Two of the most widely read and respected world rankings for universities are QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Results are published annually and Spanish universities rate consistently high in the world rankings.
Let’s take a look at the ranking of universities in Spain for 2024.
Factors which are taken into account when ranking universities include academic peer reviews, faculty-student ratio, citations per faculty, employer reputation, and diversity of the student community and academic staff.
In recent years Barcelona and Madrid have topped the ranking of universities in Spain, but all Spanish universities offer high standards of education and it is important to bear in mind that the larger cities also tend to be the most expensive.
Ranking of universities in Spain 2024
Here are the top 15 ranked Spanish universities from QS and Times Higher Education.
There are 76 universities in Spain in total.
If you would like to see the full listings of Ranking of Universities in Spain 2024 you can follow these links: QS rankings / Times rankings.
QS rankings for top 15 Spanish universities
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
- Universitat de Barcelona
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
- Universidad de Navarra
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)
- Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M)
- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
- Universidad de Granada
- Universidad IE University(Madrid)
- Universitat Politecnica de Valencia
- Universitat de Valencia
- Universidad de Sevilla
- Universidad de Zaragoza
Times Higher Education rankings for top 15 Universities in Spain
- Universitat de Barcelona
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
- Universidad de Navarra
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
- Complutense Universidad de Madrid
- Universidad de Granada
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili
- Universidad de Valencia
- Universidad del País Vasco
- Universidad de Córdoba
- Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
- Universitat Politecnica de Valencia
- Universitat Ramon Llul
Universities in Spain : Barcelona comes out on top
As you can see, QS Rankings and Times Higher Education Rankings differ in their rankings.
QS ranks Universitat de Barcelona in the top spot and Times Higher Education gives top spot to Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
QS and Times Higher Education use slightly different criteria to assess the universities and their data will come from different sources.
But what is clear for 2024 at least is that Barcelona comes out as the top city in the Ranking of Universities in Spain as both lists place universities from Barcelona in first and second spots.
Universities in Spain : Madrid, Navarra, Granada, Zaragoza
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and Universitat de Barcelona are clearly very respected Spanish universities and all three rank high in the university world rankings.
The Madrid universities: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Complutense Universidad de Madrid also rank consistently high.
And if you are looking to study somewhere outside of Spain’s two major cities you could look to Navarra’s Universidad de Navarra, Granada’s Universidad de Granada, and Zaragoza’s Universidad de Zaragoza which also all rank high.
