Top university in research according to U-Ranking 2016

The BBVA Foundation and the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (Ivie) recently presented the U-Ranking 2016 on synthetic indicators of Spanish universities. This is the fourth edition of the ranking, which analyses the teaching, research, innovation and technological development activities of universities. The analysis produces rankings of the institutions, 61 in this edition, for each of the areas and sets of university activities.

In the research ranking, which classifies universities according to the results of their research activities, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona occupies first place with a score of 1.9 and is followed by Pompeu Fabra University (1.7), University of Barcelona (1.5) and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (1.4).

In the general ranking, the UAB occupies second place, after Pompeu Fabra University and in front of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Universitat Politècnica de Valencia; fourth place in teaching quality; and ninth in innovation and technological development.

The U-Ranking 2016 of Synthetic Indicators of Spanish Universities report confirms that the best universities in Spain are mainly found in large metropolitan areas and their results triple those of less productive universities due to their research potential and the numerous opportunities to conduct technology transfer activities with surrounding centres.

According to the report, Catalonia contains the best university system, followed by Cantabria, Valencia, Navarra, the Balearic Islands and Madrid.

Conducted by the BBVA Foundation and Ivie, the U-Ranking 2016 project was directed by professors Francisco Pérez and Joaquín Aldás (Ivie and University of Valencia), in collaboration with Irene Zaera, Rodrigo Aragón and Héctor García, research technicians at Ivie.