The BBVA Foundation BBVA Foundation and the Valencian Institute for Economic Research (Ivie) have published the second U-Ranking, which evaluates teaching, research and innovation at Spanish universities.

UPF is once again ranked as the most productive University in Spain, both in general terms and also in the specific fields of teaching and research. In the field of innovation, the University has improved by six places compared to the previous year, and in in fourth place. The table below shows the overall position of Spanish universities according to their productivity, as well as the three dimensions assessed.

A tool which also enhances a user-driven search

The U-ranking assesses the three dimensions of universities (teaching, research and innovation) in four categories (resources, production, quality and internationalization). The dimensions and categories are weighted differently in each case, and are determined by consulting experts. The ranking gives the most importance to the quality of teaching (56%), followed by research (34%) and innovation (10%).

It provides results in two formats. First, it ranks the universities according to the volume of their results (ISSUE-V) and, second, according to their productivity (ISSUE-P), i.e. taking the size of the institution into account.

All the information about methodology and results is available on the ranking's website and in the 2014 Report produced by the promoters. A user-driven search can be carried out on the website. The tool lets users choose a university based on three variables: the type of degree to be taken, location (in which Spanish autonomous region) and the importance given by each user to each of these three aspects. Users can therefore change the default percentages awarded to each dimension according to their interests.

This tool has been developed in line with a trend in some university rankings such as the recently published U-Multirank. It has been promoted by the European Union, and offers a user-driven approach while providing customised searches based on personal interests.

• U-Ranking. Report ISSUE 2014 - Synthetic indicators of Spanish universities

E-news related

• UPF is ranked 15th in Europe according to U-Multirank, the new ranking developed by the EU

• UPF is Spain's most productive public university