UPF is the 15th best young university in the world, according to Times Higher Education
UPF is the 15th best young university in the world, according to Times Higher Education
The THE Young University Rankings 2021, which includes a total of 450 centres under fifty years old, puts Pompeu Fabra in first place in the Spanish state and seventh in Europe. Over the ten editions of the classification published between 2012 and 2021, UPF has remained between 10th and 17th position on nine occasions, with minor fluctuations.
On 23 June, Times Higher Education (THE), which produces one of the most prestigious and influential university rankings in the world, published the 2021 edition of the Young University Rankings, which places UPF in fifteenth position worldwide. THE Young University Rankings 2021 includes the top 450 institutions around the world under fifty years old, belonging to 68 different countries and regions.
Over the ten editions of the rankings published so far, between 2012 and 2021, UPF has come nine times between 10th (2020) and 17th (2012 and 2017), and only once has UPF come in the 20-30 bracket (in 2013, when it achieved 25th) with small ups and downs, but generally consistently.
State-wide, UPF ranks first, ahead of CEU Universities (113th) and Rovira i Virgili (136th). Europe-wide, Pompeu Fabra is in seventh (5th last year), behind PSL University (Paris Sciences & Lettres) of France; Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy), Maastricht University (Netherlands), the University of Antwerp (Belgium), and the Sorbonne and Paris Universities (both France).
Globally, the podium is taken by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; PSL University (Paris Sciences & Lettres) in Paris (France), and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Within the top ten institutions, six are Asian, three European and one from Oceania.
The rankings were announced today, 23 June, as part of the seventh summit of THE young universities, entitled “Transforming the Future: New Visions of Young Universities”. The meeting, held virtually, in collaboration with the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow, focused on how young universities can expand their spheres of influence both globally and locally.
UPF stands out for citations and international outlook
In drawing up the rankings of the best young universities, Times Higher Education uses the same indicators (a total of thirteen) it uses in the global rankings, in the last edition of which UPF came 152nd overall. However, the rankings of young universities give less weight to indicators related to reputation, so as to reflect as faithfully as possible the characteristics of younger institutions.
In the 2021 edition of Young University Rankings, UPF achieved an aggregate score of 62.4 points, with the following breakdown according to its five dimensions: Citations (93.8), Industry income (50.9), International outlook (65.8), Research (50.9), and Teaching (42.5). Compared to last year, it has risen for Citations, Industry income and Research, and has fallen for International outlook and Teaching.
These dimensions are weighted differently: teaching (30%), with several variables related to the overall teaching process, such as the ratio of students per teacher or the institution's academic reputation; research (30%), obtained from the volume of revenue through research, scientific output, and the reputation of the institution in this field.
The three remaining dimensions are citations received (30%), with the aim of measuring the influence of research results; international outlook (7.5%), with ratios that measure the ratio of local versus international students and lecturers, as well as international cooperation with other institutions; and industry income (2.5%), from the transfer of knowledge.
The U-Ranking places UPF as the highest performing university in Spain, for the ninth consecutive year
The ninth edition of the U-Ranking has recently been published, an initiative of the BBVA Foundation and the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (Ivie), which analyses the activity of the Spanish university system based on indicators related to two general categories: teaching, on the one hand, and research and innovation, on the other (weighted 56% and 44%, respectively).
U-Ranking publishes two types of classifications: the U-Ranking, which classifies universities based on their performance correcting for the effects of the varying sizes of the universities to make them comparable, and the U-Ranking Volume, which ranks them based on absolute values. The 2021 edition of the ranking analyses 70 universities, 48 public and 22 private.
In this ninth edition, for the ninth consecutive year (since its inception in 2013) UPF ratifies first place for highest overall performance, jointly with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and Carlos III University of Madrid. In second place comes the UAB, tying with the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
Thus, apart from the general classification, the project also establishes a specific ranking for innovation and research and another for teaching. For innovation and research, UPF keeps its first position, followed by the UAB and the UPC, while for teaching, it comes in second position, after a block of eight universities that lead this sub-ranking.
The U-Ranking analyses up to twenty indicators grouped into four areas: resources, output, quality and internationalization. These criteria focus on the teaching, innovation and research carried out at university centres.
The U-Ranking website allows users to build their own list as a basis for choosing from among the nearly 3,500 degrees evaluated, with additional information on employability for around 1,800 degrees. Also, this 2021 edition offers a comprehensive analysis of the changes in the offer of undergraduate degrees that have taken place in the Spanish university system between the 2014-2015 academic year to the present, 2020-2021.