UB maintains place among world's top 200

The University of Barcelona (UB) has retained its position among the top 200 universities globally in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2025, commonly known as the Shanghai Ranking. This marks the third consecutive year the UB has held this standing and confirms its status as the highest-ranked university in Spain. Rector Joan Guàrdia welcomed the results, highlighting "the enormous improvement" in the impact of scientific publications and the "effort" of researchers. He noted the institution's strong performance in indexed scientific output within the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), where it scored 47.8 out of 100 points.

Having a ranking like this is almost a miracle, given the abyssal differences between us and leading universities.

Guàrdia pointed to disparities in funding, capacity and investment, stating that "absolute comparisons with top global universities are completely unviable."

UAB climbs, UPF and URV fall back

The Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) improved its standing, moving into the 201–300 bracket from last year's 301–400 range. The UAB scored 44.6 in indexed publications and achieved 28 points in academic performance per capita, surpassing the UB in the latter metric. Conversely, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) dropped from the 301–400 to the 401–500 range. The decline is attributed to scoring zero in the Highly Cited Researchers indicator, despite achieving 29.9 points in per capita performance, the highest among Catalan universities. The Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) fell two bands, now placed between 801 and 900, after previously ranking between 601 and 700. It scored 21 points in indexed publications and 20.4 in per capita performance.

UPC and UdG hold steady, UdL exits ranking

The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) remains in the 701–800 range, maintaining its position from the 2024 edition. Its strongest area is Civil Engineering, ranked between 51st and 75th globally. The Universitat de Girona (UdG) stays in the 901–1,000 band, with Veterinary Sciences its top discipline, ranked between 151st and 200th.

The University of Lleida (UdL) has fallen out of the top 1,000 entirely, despite being ranked between 801 and 900 in the previous edition. The ranking evaluates institutions based on six indicators: alumni and staff winning Nobel or Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers in Nature and Science, publications in SCIE and SSCI, and per capita academic performance. In total, six Catalan universities appear in the 2025 ARWU top 1,000, alongside 24 from the rest of Spain.

Reported by G.P, VIA Empresa.