In the World University Rankings by Subject 2025, of the British journal Times Higher Education, published on 22 January, UPF has improved its results in four areas compared to the previous edition: Business and Economics, Arts and Humanities (the editors of the ranking also include studies related to Translation and Language Sciences in this area), Social Sciences (including studies related to Communication and Political and Social Sciences), and Engineering. In addition to these four areas in which the University has climbed positions, Law and Medicine and Health also appear among the best universities in the world in their field.

Thus, this ranking puts UPF among the top 200 universities in the world in five areas: Business and Economics climbs ten places to reach 83rd place; Law, despite falling slightly, is in the 101-125 bracket. In the same range we find Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences: both take a leap forward, since last year they were in the 126-150 and 151-175 brackets, respectively. Still in the Top 200 we have Medicine and Health, which remains in the 176-200 bracket. Finally, Engineering has climbed, leaving the 401-150 bracket to enter the 301-400 bracket.

If we focus on universities in Spain, UPF leads the table alone for Business and Economics, and takes the podium for Engineering and Social Sciences (second) and Law and Medicine and Health (third)

These results mean that on a state-wide level, UPF leads the table alone for Business and Economics, and takes the podium for Engineering and Social Sciences (second) and Law and Medicine and Health (third). On a global scale, five Anglo-Saxon institutions top the eleven areas included in the ranking: Business and Economics, Arts and Humanities, and Social Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Psychology, Law, and Education Studies (Stanford University); Engineering and Life Sciences (Harvard University), Computer Science, and Medicine and Health (Oxford University), and Physical Sciences (California Institute of Technology).

The World University Rankings 2025 by Subject use the eighteen performance indicators that are already used in the Times Higher Education global ranking, split into five categories: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry. However, the weighting of the indicators changes depending on the different disciplines, in order to make a truer calculation in each area of knowledge.

In the World University Rankings 2025 published last September, UPF also improved its results, ranking 176th globally, 78th in Europe and 2nd in Spain. In terms of the latest edition of THE’s Young University Rankings 2024, the University ranked 28th globally, 15th in Europe and 1st in Spain.