The Rome University Joins Oxford, Cambridge and Bocconi as U.S. Undergraduate Interest in Studying Abroad SurgesJohn Cabot University has been named to Forbes' newly published list of the 15 top international colleges and universities for U.S. undergraduate students, placing the small American-style university in Trastevere alongside a roster of considerably larger and more globally recognized names, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, McGill University, Sciences Po and Bocconi University. The article, written by Forbes staff writer Lisa Chambers and published August 29, singled out JCU as offering, in the piece's own words, one of the most American-style education experiences among the schools profiled. The magazine pointed to JCU's location in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood, its 16 majors spanning business and economics, political and social sciences, and the humanities, and its notably international student body: roughly 1,900 students, 28% of whom come from the United States. A New President Settling In The Forbes recognition also arrives at a notable moment of transition for JCU's leadership. Antonia Maioni took office as the university's seventh president, and its first woman president, on July 1, succeeding Franco Pavoncello after his two decades at the helm. A political scientist who spent most of her career at Montreal's McGill University, one of the very institutions named alongside JCU on Forbes' list, Maioni has spoken openly about wanting to raise JCU's profile beyond Rome's own borders, describing the university as something of a hidden jewel in need of greater visibility on both its American and global footprint. A national feature in Forbes, just weeks into her tenure, gives that ambition an early, tangible boost. Part of a Broader Shift in Where Americans Study Forbes framed JCU's inclusion within a larger trend reshaping how American undergraduates think about college itself. Citing new partial data from the Institute of International Education, the article notes that 67% of the more than 90,000 Americans enrolled in full-degree programs abroad in 2025 were undergraduates, up sharply from just 35% a decade earlier. Over that same period, the number of American undergraduates studying abroad more than doubled in the United Kingdom, Spain and Japan specifically. The geographic breakdown is telling in its own right. Mexico, which only began reporting figures to the IIE in 2022, recorded the largest population of American undergraduates abroad in 2025, at 24,466, followed by the U.K. with 10,200 and Canada with 6,865. According to college counselors quoted in the piece, much of the growing interest in full degrees abroad traces back to two familiar pressures back home: steadily rising U.S. tuition costs and increasingly long odds of admission to elite domestic universities, both of which are pushing more families to treat an overseas degree as a genuinely competitive alternative rather than a niche choice. What JCU Brings to the List Arianna Catti De Gasperi, JCU's Director of Enrollment and Marketing, was quoted directly in the Forbes piece, describing the university's graduates as extremely confident, and pointing to the effect of being immersed daily in such an international community as something that genuinely expands students' thinking. That framing lines up with how Forbes characterized JCU's appeal more broadly: not simply a study-abroad detour, but a full undergraduate education built around constant, daily exposure to a mixed international student body, in a city whose own draw as a place to live and study needs little introduction. Why the Recognition Matters For a university JCU's size, inclusion alongside institutions like Oxford, Cambridge and Bocconi carries real weight, less because of direct comparability in scale or global name recognition, and more because it positions JCU inside a national conversation, playing out in outlets like Forbes, about where ambitious American undergraduates should actually consider applying. As more U.S. families treat a full degree abroad as a legitimate, cost-conscious alternative to an increasingly expensive and competitive domestic system, being named on a list built specifically around that decision gives a smaller, Rome-based university a level of visibility it would otherwise have to work much harder to earn on its own.

 John Cabot University has been named to of the 15 top international colleges and universities for U.S. undergraduate students, placing the small American-style university in Trastevere alongside a roster of considerably larger and more globally recognized names, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, McGill University, Sciences Po and Bocconi University. The article, written by Forbes staff writer Lisa Chambers and published August 29, singled out JCU as offering, in the piece's own words, one of the most American-style education experiences among the schools profiled. The magazine pointed to JCU's location in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood, its 16 majors spanning business and economics, political and social sciences, and the humanities, and its notably international student body: roughly 1,900 students, 28% of whom come from the United States. The Forbes recognition also arrives at a notable moment of transition for JCU's leadership. Antonia Maioni took office as the university's seventh president, and its first woman president, on July 1, succeeding Franco Pavoncello after his two decades at the helm. A political scientist who spent most of her career at Montreal's McGill University, one of the very institutions named alongside JCU on Forbes' list, , describing the university as something of a hidden jewel in need of greater visibility on both its American and global footprint. A national feature in Forbes, just weeks into her tenure, gives that ambition an early, tangible boost. Forbes framed JCU's inclusion within a larger trend reshaping how American undergraduates think about college itself. Citing new partial data from the Institute of International Education, the article notes that 67% of the more than 90,000 Americans enrolled in full-degree programs abroad in 2025 were undergraduates, up sharply from just 35% a decade earlier. Over that same period, the number of American undergraduates studying abroad more than doubled in the United Kingdom, Spain and Japan specifically. The geographic breakdown is telling in its own right. Mexico, which only began reporting figures to the IIE in 2022, recorded the largest population of American undergraduates abroad in 2025, at 24,466, followed by the U.K. with 10,200 and Canada with 6,865. According to college counselors quoted in the piece, much of the growing interest in full degrees abroad traces back to two familiar pressures back home: steadily rising U.S. tuition costs and increasingly long odds of admission to elite domestic universities, both of which are pushing more families to treat an overseas degree as a genuinely competitive alternative rather than a niche choice. Arianna Catti De Gasperi, JCU's Director of Enrollment and Marketing, was quoted directly in the Forbes piece, describing the university's graduates as extremely confident, and pointing to the effect of being immersed daily in such an international community as something that genuinely expands students' thinking. That framing lines up with how Forbes characterized JCU's appeal more broadly: not simply a study-abroad detour, but a full undergraduate education built around constant, daily exposure to a mixed international student body, in a city whose own draw as a place to live and study needs little introduction. For a university JCU's size, inclusion alongside institutions like Oxford, Cambridge and Bocconi carries real weight, less because of direct comparability in scale or global name recognition, and more because it positions JCU inside a national conversation, playing out in outlets like Forbes, about where ambitious American undergraduates should actually consider applying. As more U.S. families treat a full degree abroad as a legitimate, cost-conscious alternative to an increasingly expensive and competitive domestic system, being named on a list built specifically around that decision gives a smaller, Rome-based university a level of visibility it would otherwise have to work much harder to earn on its own.