Note: Universities are ordered from highest to lowest index value. Universities with the same index value are ordered alphabetically. The 16 universities listed in the last column have not been analyzed due to lack of data.
*Universities 15 years or younger.
Source: BBVA Foundation-Ivie
The cardinal and ordinal aspects of the universities that constitute notable differences are discussed below.
An aspect worth mentioning is that the range of the index from which this ranking is derived continues to show, as in previous editions, significant differences in performance among Spanish universities, with the most productive ones having results that are three times higher than those in end positions.
The leading group in U-Ranking is made up of 19 universities occupying from the first to the fourth positions (various universities share the same position), increasing their results to 20% above the national average. These universities are:
Universitat Pompeu Fabra in first place, which for the first time shares ranks with two other universities: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Politècnica de Catalunya. Following this top group are Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Politècnica de València. Behind them is a group of seven universities which include the first private
universities in the ranking, Universidad de Deusto and Universidad de Navarra, along with the public universities of Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad de Cantabria, Politécnica de Madrid, Universitat de Barcelona and Universitat Rovira i Virgili. The fourth place is occupied by seven universities:
Alcalá, Pablo Olavide, Universitat de València, Universitat de Girona, Universitat Jaume I de Castellón and two private universities, IE Uni- versidad and Universitat Ramon Llull.
In fifth place, still above the average, are seventeen universities. Other groups of universities with similar levels of performance are:
thirteen that share sixth place (equivalent to the average of the system), eight in seventh position, five others are found in eighth place, four in ninth and three in tenth place. Three universities occupy the eleventh place, and one, the twelfth place.
The nineteen universities in the top four places are basically the same universities as in the 2020
Table 4.1. U-Ranking of Spanish universities 2021
University Ranking Index University Ranking Index University Ranking Index
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 1 1.5 U. Politécnica de Cartagena 5 1.1 Mondragón Unibertsitatea 8 0.8
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya 1 1.5 Universidad Pública de Navarra 5 1.1 Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU 8 0.8
Universitat Pompeu Fabra 1 1.5 U. de Santiago de Compostela 5 1.1 Universidad Europea de Madrid 8 0.8
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2 1.4 Universidade de Vigo 5 1.1 UNED 8 0.8
Universitat Politècnica de València 2 1.4 Universitat de les Illes Balears 5 1.1 Universidad A Distancia de Madrid* 9 0.7
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 3 1.3 Universitat de Lleida 5 1.1 Universidad Abat Oliba CEU 9 0.7
Universidad de Cantabria 3 1.3 Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya 5 1.1 Universidad Católica San Antonio 9 0.7
Universidad de Deusto 3 1.3 Universidad de Cádiz 6 1.0 U. Internacional de La Rioja* 9 0.7
Universidad de Navarra 3 1.3 Universidad de Jaén 6 1.0 Universidad Católica de Valencia 10 0.6
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid 3 1.3 Universidad de León 6 1.0 Universidad Europea de Canarias* 10 0.6
Universitat de Barcelona 3 1.3 Universidad de Málaga 6 1.0 U. Internacional Valenciana* 10 0.6
Universitat Rovira i Virgili 3 1.3 Universidad de Murcia 6 1.0 Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio 11 0.5
IE Universidad 4 1.2 Universidad de Oviedo 6 1.0 Universidad Camilo José Cela 11 0.5
Universidad de Alcalá 4 1.2 Universidad de Salamanca 6 1.0 Universidad Europea de Valencia* 11 0.5
Universidad Pablo de Olavide 4 1.2 Universidad de Sevilla 6 1.0 U. Internacional Isabel I de Castilla* 12 0.4
Universitat de Girona 4 1.2 Universidad de Valladolid 6 1.0
Universitat de València 4 1.2 Universidad Rey Juan Carlos 6 1.0
Universitat Jaume I de Castellón 4 1.2 Universidade da Coruña 6 1.0
Universitat Ramon Llull 4 1.2 U. Internacional de Catalunya 6 1.0
Universidad Complutense de Madrid 5 1.1 Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 6 1.0
Universidad de Alicante 5 1.1 Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha 7 0.9
Universidad de Almería 5 1.1 Universidad de Extremadura 7 0.9
Universidad de Burgos 5 1.1 Universidad de Huelva 7 0.9
Universidad de Córdoba 5 1.1 Universidad de La Laguna 7 0.9
Universidad de Granada 5 1.1 U. de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 7 0.9
Universidad de La Rioja 5 1.1 Universidad Nebrija 7 0.9
Universidad de Zaragoza 5 1.1 Universidad Pontificia Comillas 7 0.9
Universidad del País Vasco 5 1.1 Universidad San Pablo-CEU 7 0.9
U. Miguel Hernández de Elche 5 1.1
CUNEF Universidad*
ESIC Universidad*
Universidad Católica de Ávila Universidad de las Hespérides*
Universidad del Atlántico Medio*
Universidad Europea del Atlántico*
Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes Universidad Fernando Pessoa-Canarias*
Universidad Francisco de Vitoria Universidad Internacional de Andalucía Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo Universidad Internacional Villanueva*
Universidad Loyola de Andalucía*
Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca Universidad San Jorge
Universidad Tecnología y Empresa*
edition17. The main changes are the rise of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Politècnica de Catalunya from second place to first along with Pompeu Fabra, the direct entry into fourth place of IE Universidad, which appears for the first time in the ranking, the rise of Universidad de Deusto and Jaume I from fourth to third place, and the fall in one position of Universitat de Lleida.
4.2. U-RANKING VOLUME
Table 4.2 shows the index and the ranking of the 72 Spanish public universities according to their volume of results (U-Ranking Volume), which differs from that of the previously discussed performance ranking because it is obtained by calculating the size of each university. The underlying idea that justifies the need for a volume index is that a small university can also have a great performance (i.e., its researchers can publish almost all of their articles in first quartile [Q1] journals), but if its size is very small, its impact on the environment and university system as a whole will be limited. In turn, a very large university may have a low performance rate (i.e., the percentage of articles published in Q1 journals is small), but if its size makes the total output bigger (the total number of published Q1 articles is higher), its total impact can be significantly relevant.
In the volume ranking there are many more dif- ferent positions in the ranking because there are less universities that share the same position with others as a group. Unlike the performance rank- ing, in which universities are grouped in 12 levels, in U-Ranking Volume, the 72 universities analyzed are ordered in 33 different positions, indicating the greater heterogeneity in the university system in terms of the size-performance binomial, adding variability to the ranking.
17 In the 2020 ranking, 18 universities were placed be- tween the first and fifth positions.
As can be seen in table 4.2, Universidad Com- plutense de Madrid leads by a large margin, with an index of 5.9, almost one point higher than Uni- versitat de Barcelona in second place, (5.0). Uni- versitat de Barcelona itself has a half a point higher index than the ones in third place, Universidad de Granada and Universitat de València (4.2). In fourth place is Universidad de Sevilla, followed by Universidad del País Vasco in fifth, three universi- ties in sixth place, Polytechnics of Madrid and Va- lencia and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in seventh place Politécnica de Catalunya, in eighth place Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and both Universidad de Zaragoza and UNED take the ninth position. Finally, Universidad de Málaga and Univer- sidad de Santiago de Compostela complete the list of the 10 top universities of the ranking. These fif- teen top universities are the same ones located at the top of the 2020 edition. From among these, Granada and València rise one position, occupying the third place, but in general they all remain sta- ble.
Between the eleventh and twentieth place are 18 public universities. The rest are shown below, most of them grouped in levels shared by at least three or more universities.
The ranking by volume shows the smaller size of private universities compared to public ones. Due to their size, they rank lower in the ranking by volume of results than in the ranking by performance. Thus, in table 4.2, it can be observed that all the private universities are located in the lower half of the list. The highest- ranking private universities in terms of volume of results when combining better results and larger size are Universidad de Navarra and Universitat Ramon Llull.
Note: Universities are ordered from highest to lowest index value. Universities with the same index value are ordered alphabetically. The 16 universities listed in the last column have not been analyzed due to lack of data.
*Universities 15 years or younger.
Source: BBVA Foundation-Ivie
4.3. U-RANKING VOLUME VS.