The overall results of U-Ranking of Spanish Public Universities are presented in two different formats:

• U-Ranking, which classifies universities according to their performance correcting for the effect of their size in order to make them comparable,
• U-Ranking Volume, which classifies universities according to their total volume of results. 

In addition, the “Choose a university” tool allows users to build their own ranking of bachelor’s degrees, based on their preferences on area of study, geographical location and academic orientation.

U-Ranking provides a system of indicators of the performance results of Spanish universities, rigorous in its approach and following criteria derived from international studies and European Union proposals on the design conditions that a good ranking should have. The research is approached with a careful analysis of the information provided by the simple and synthetic indicators used, evaluating the aggregation criteria used to change simple indicators into synthetic indicators, the sensitivity of the synthetic indices and the rankings that are derived from changes in the aggregation procedures.

The U-Ranking project indicators represent four major contributions making it a precise tool which, in addition to being easy to use and access, is useful for managers and experts in higher education, as well as for students and career counsellors alike:

• Classifying universities according to both the volume of results (U-Ranking Volume) and their performance (U-Ranking), while assessing the effect of university size.
• Examining the main missions of universities – teaching, and research and innovation – providing rankings for each area.
• Offering rankings for various qualifications, facilitating a very useful and user-friendly tool to choose the university in which to study.
• Allowing users to obtain a personalized ranking by responding to the questions “what to study”, “where” and “what are your preferences for education and research”. 

U-Ranking takes into account the different specialization of each university in two areas:

• University activity: U-Ranking allows an independent analysis of the teaching activity, and research and innovation activity of the universities, recognizing the existence of different specialization profiles in the Spanish University System.
• Areas of study: If information is available, each indicator is calculated for each area of study and university. Each one of these is standardized by dividing by the median of its area. The five standardized indicators of each university are aggregated by calculating the arithmetic average weighted by the weight of the student body in each area and university (if the indicator belongs to the teaching dimension) or by the weight of the faculty members with PhD (if the indicator belongs to the research and innovation dimension). 

To assess universities’ activities in each of their large dimensions (1. teaching, 2. research and innovation) the following four areas are considered: Resources, Output, Quality, Internationalization. For each area, between one and three indicators have been taken into account, depending on the availability and suitability of data, and according to the dimension that is being studied. In total, U-Ranking index consider 20 indicators. The ranking includes Spanish universities that provide information on at least 18 of them.

TEACHING (56%)

RESOURCES

• Faculty member with PhD per 100 students: Full-time equivalent faculty members and research staff in centers belonging to the University per 100 full-time equivalent students in Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and students in Doctoral degrees (all of these students registered in centers belonging to the university).
• Budget / Student: Effective income of the University by number of full-time equivalent students in Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and of students in Doctoral degrees (all of these students registered in centers belonging to the university).
• Faculty member with PhD / Faculty members: Full-time equivalent faculty members with PhD in centers belonging to the University over total full-time equivalent teaching and research staff in centers belonging to the university. 

OUTPUT 

• Success rate: Number of credits passed by grade students registered in an academic year over total credits evaluated within the same course (excluding transfer and recognized credits).
• Evaluation rate: Number of credits evaluated by grade students registered in an academic year over total credits registered within the same course (excluding transfer and recognized credits). 
• Overall dropout rate in Bachelor’s degree studies: Total sum of Bachelor’s degree dropout rates during first, second and third year of studies. 

QUALITY 

• Percentage of postgraduate students: Full-time equivalent students registered in Master’s degrees over the total number of full-time equivalent students registered in Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees (all of these students registered in centers belonging to the university).
• Cut-off mark: Mark of the last general group student that gained admission to a degree with limited places. 

INTERNATIONALIZATION 

• Percentage of foreign students: Non-Spanish students of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees over the total number of students of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.
• Percentage of students in international mobility programs: Number of bachelor’s and master’s degree students who study abroad through a mobility program over total number of bachelor’s and master’s degree students. 

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (44%)

RESOURCES

• Competitive public resources per faculty member with PhD: Competitive public resources for undirected research projects, including both projects and complementary actions and ERDF funds, over the total number of faculty members with full-time equivalent PhD.
• Contracts with PhDs, research grants and technical support over total budget: Competitive resources obtained for research staff training, Juan de la Cierva, Ramón and Cajal and support technicians over total effective income. 

OUTPUT 

• Citable documents with ISI reference per faculty member with PhD: Documents with ISI reference published per 100 faculty members with full-time equivalent PhD.
• Number of patents per 100 faculty members with PhD: Number of national patents granted to each Spanish university by the Spanish Patents and Trade Marks Office per 100 faculty members with PhD.
• Doctoral theses read per 100 faculty members with PhD: Doctoral theses read per 100 faculty members with full-time equivalent PhD. 

QUALITY 

• Mean impact factor: Mean impact factor of the publications with at least one author affiliated to the university.
• Percentage of publications in the first quartile: Publications corresponding to journals in the first quartile of relevance within the Thomson Reuters classification by areas, over the total number of publications belonging to that area.
• Citations per document: Citations received per document from the date of publication to the date of data gathering.

INTERNATIONALIZATION 

• Horizon 2020 European research funds per faculty members with PhD: Funding received by the university from EU research funds (H2020 program) per every 100 full-time equivalent faculty members with PhD.
• Percentage of publications with international co-authorship: Publications with at least one co-author affiliated to a foreign institution over the total number of publications.