U-Multirank, the instrument created in 2008 by the EU to assess and compare the activity of universities has today released a ranking that relates universities' research activity with their age.

In its analysis, the ranking points out that although the older universities tend to achieve better results in research, there are some young universities that "are reversing this trend". Among them,  the ranking highlights the results obtained by UPF, which ranks the best university in the world under 35 years of age.

A multidimensional methodology and four age groups

In this classification, U-Multirank has evaluated over 1,200 universities from around the world divided into four age categories: those founded before 1870; between 1870 and 1945; between 1945 and 1980; and after 1980.

To produce the ranking, four specific indicators were considered (citation rate; absolute number of publications; institution size-normalized research publications; top cited publications) and three indicators related to innovation, internationalization and engagement with the region but affecting research capacity (co-publications with industrial partners; international joint publications; and regional joint publications).

Last March, U-Multirank published its general classification. Then, from a total of 582 universities evaluated,  UPF was ranked ninth best European university.