UPF climbs 45 positions to 265th in the 2025 QS World University Rankings
The University performed particularly well in terms of citations per faculty, in which it is ranked 163rd worldwide, 43rd in Europe and first in Spain, and also achieved notable results in international faculty ratio and international research network.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) recently published the 2025 QS World University Rankings, one of the world’s most consulted university rankings. This year, UPF is ranked 265th overall, an improvement of 45 positions over the previous edition; 107th in Europe, 6th in Spain and 3rd in Catalonia.
The list, which returns this year with its 21st edition, includes 1,503 institutions from 106 countries. It is topped by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT (for the 13th straight year), Imperial College London and the University of Oxford. Of the top ten universities, five are European, four are from the United States and one is from Asia.
Three of the ranking’s nine indicators (employment outcomes, international research network and sustainability) were incorporated in last year’s edition, and each is worth 5% of the total score. The other indicators and weights are: academic reputation (30%), citations per faculty (20%), employer reputation (15%), faculty student ratio (10%), international faculty ratio (5%) and international students ratio (5%).
UPF, which earned an overall score of 38.8 points (5 points higher than last year), obtained the following results in the nine indicators: international faculty ratio (75.6), international research network (74), citations per faculty (67.1), academic reputation (31,7), employer reputation (29,4), sustainability (27.9), international students ratio (24.5), employment outcomes (16.4) and faculty student ratio (12.1).
Among these indicators, the University performed particularly well in terms of citations per faculty (number of citations received by papers produced by its researchers), an area in which it is ranked 1st in Spain, 43rd in Europe and 163rd worldwide. Its score of 67.1 is almost 12 points higher than in last year’s edition (55.6).
As for the other indicators, the University showed significant year on year improvements in international research network (38.4 to 74), sustainability (13.2 to 27.9) and employer reputation (22.8 to 29.4). It also saw slight improvements in academic reputation and employment outcomes.