Based on the idea of producing a league table for top universities that was different from more established rankings, in 2008 the European Union decided to create a tool for evaluating and comparing the work of universities using a different approach. As a result of this process, the U-Multirank was presented as a multi dimensional and user-driven tool in Brussels yesterday.

The EU ranking evaluates the work of more than 850 higher education institutions in 70 countries worldwide based on five aspects (teaching, research, transfer, internationalisation and regional involvement) and thirty areas. The U-Multirank differs the traditional methodology for rankings into main areas. First, the user chooses the settings for reducing the selection. For example, if the user is interested in seeing the profiles of universities which only teach "undergraduate courses" and/or which have a "medium" level of "internationalisation", the tool automatically performs the search only among universities that meet those requirements. Second, the tool does not present a closed league table, but instead the scores of the chosen universities in each area, giving a rating (from "A", "very good" to "E", "weak") to each field.

Once the selection has been made, the tool allows all the universities to be ranked on the basis of their overall score or their score in one area. As a result, the institutions with the highest number of "As" appear first, followed by the "Bs" and so on. Universities that have not provided information in a particular field are also penalised.

In a search with broad parameters - for example EU universities offering undergraduate, master's and doctorate courses - in a total of 478 universities, UPF is ranked 15th in Europe, and also the highest-ranked Spanish university, as shown in the figure below.

Legend:(A) Very good; (B) Good; (C) Average; (D) Below average; (E) Weak; (-) (Data unavailable); (x) (Not applicable)

Different ways to see the universities' profile

There are three ways to access the ranking. The "students" option can locate a university according to the user's interests; the "compare" option shows a comparison of two or more universities, also based on the user's interests (this option was used to produce the make the table above) and finally, the "at a glance" option shows a university's profile. The figure below, illustrating UPF's profile, was produced using this option.

The ranking shows the results of universities in overall terms, for a range of subjects. Four areas have been chosen in this first phase: Business, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Physics. Assessment of the fields of Psychology, Medicine and Computer science is planned for the next phase, scheduled for 2015. The ranking also provides access to three "readymade" rankings that evaluate performance in research and transfer, participation in the economy and a specific section on master's programmes in Business Sciences.

More information:

• Press release
• Web U-Multirank