Research, good teaching or job prospects: which are the best universities in the State?

BarcelonaThe universities of Navarra, Catalonia, and the Basque Country stand out as having the best academic performance, considering their teaching, research, knowledge transfer, or level of internationalization and labor insertion, although Madrid and Valencia also stand out in the top ten. This data comes from the thirteenth edition of the university ranking of the Knowledge and Development Foundation (CYD), which this year analyzes 84 higher education institutions based on criteria such as the rate of students who manage to complete their studies within the expected time, the funds dedicated to research, or the average salary graduates will receive.

According to this analysis – and considering that half of the more than 300,000 students who will take the university entrance exam (PAU) next week do not know which university to attend or which degree to study –, this report reveals the universities with the best performance at the state level. These universities are Navarra, Carlos III of Madrid, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Autonomous University of Madrid, Ramon Llull, International University of Catalonia (UIC), University of Barcelona (UB), Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Pontifical Comillas, or the University of Valencia - Estudi General and Rovira i Virgili (URV).

By autonomous communities and fields, Navarra, Cantabria, and Catalonia stand out in research, Galicia in knowledge transfer, and Aragon, the Canary Islands, and Valencia for their proximity to local businesses. According to the latest CYD employability report in 2025, the fields of IT and engineering, industry, and construction have the highest affiliation rates and indefinite contracts, along with health and social services. The field of medicine, with the highest affiliation rate (94%), has an average annual contribution base of 41,839 euros, and in industrial engineering, IT, or telecommunications studies, salaries are between 36,000 and 38,300 euros four years after graduation.

Degrees with the highest demand

This year's ranking, which analyzes 3,909 degrees from 48 public universities and 36 private ones, states that Carlos III and Pontifical Comillas are the ones with the best teaching and learning levels, meaning, better levels regarding the number of students per professor, students who finish their studies on time, and percentage of credits passed. They are followed by the University of Navarra, Deusto, Nebrija, or Pontifical Salamanca. In research, the University of Valencia - Estudi General and those of Navarra, Cantabria, Lleida (UdL), Vigo, or UPF stand out, while in internationalization, Carlos III, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Navarra, and Ramon Llull are the leaders.

The report has a section on social science fields and points out that the most requested degrees are political science (with 1.8 applications per place in public universities), journalism and communication (1.77), and sociology (1.75). At the other extreme are earth sciences - geology and environmental sciences and engineering, which do not fill all the offered places.

Regarding the best fields by university, the ranking indicates that in Business Administration and Management, the universities in northern Spain (Navarra, Comillas, and Deusto) stand out; in political science, law, and economics, UPF, Carlos III, and Autonomous University of Madrid lead, as well as UAB, and in education, it points to UIC, UAB, and Navarra as the best. Regarding degrees linked to environmental sciences and engineering, UPC, the University of the Basque Country, and UAB complete the top.