The UB remains among the 200 best universities in the world in a ranking from which the UdL falls
The UAB improves its position and already appears among the 300 best centers
BarcelonaOnce again, the University of Barcelona (UB) is once again the best-ranked university in the State in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2025, popularly known as the Shanghai Ranking and considered the most prestigious in the world. The institution from the Catalan capital maintains its place among the top 200 universities in the world. It thus consolidates itself as the only university in the State that manages to sneak into the upper echelons of the classification.
In this table, from a Catalan perspective, the good results of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) also stand out, which climbs positions and is now among the top 201 to 300. Worse news, on the other hand, has been received this year by the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), which after placing itself in the last edition among the top 301 to 400 in the world, now drops a step and is placed among the top 401 to 500. Also appearing in the ranking are Rovira i Virgili (URV) —which falls back compared to a year ago— and it is placed with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in the 701 to 800 bracket, and the University of Girona which remains between 901 and 1,000.
Conversely, the University of Lleida (UdL) disappears from the ranking, despite appearing between 801 and 900 a year ago. In total, six Catalan universities appear in the top 1,000 places, which also includes 24 other universities from the rest of the State. The list analyzes six indicators: number of students who have won a Nobel Prize or the Fields Medal; professors with Nobel or Fields; citations of researchers; articles in Nature and Science, academic performance per capita, and works in the Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Science Citation Index.
In a statement, the rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, expressed his satisfaction with the results obtained and highlighted "the enormous improvement" in impact on scientific publications and the "effort" of the researchers to achieve a level of excellence. Guàrdia also emphasized that of the top ten universities in the State, three are Catalan, a "power that must be considered".
According to the ranking, the UB obtains a significant valuation in the indicator that quantifies indexed publications (scientific production), with a score of 47.8, occupying position 137 in this indicator, and improves in performance per capita, with 27.6 points, placing itself in 110th place worldwide in this indicator.
A bad year for the State
Overall, the Shanghai Ranking shows a decline for Spanish universities, having lost six representatives compared to a year ago. In addition to the UdL, the universities of Cantabria, Balearic Islands, Jaén, Carlos III of Madrid, Cadiz, Cordoba, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria have disappeared from the ranking. The emergence of the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid and Valladolid, which are joining the ranking of the best in the world, have helped to partially compensate for these losses.
The list is once again topped by Harvard University, which has led the ranking for 24 years. Following behind are Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Rounding out the top ten are Cambridge, Berkeley, Princeton, Oxford, Columbia, the University of Chicago, and Caltech. As for European universities, Paris-Saclay is the first and remains the leader in 13th place, followed by ETH Zurich, in 19th.
