According to the principles of the CYD Ranking, there is not a single dimension of university excellence but as many as criteria used, so the concept of “best university” depends on what is being sought. The CYD Ranking is a unique and innovative tool that allows users to design their own ranking and measure the performance of the Spanish university system in a personalized way through a set of transparent and reliable indicators.

The CYD Ranking allows its users to compare the situation of universities according to various dimensions. Universities are not listed but instead presented in performance groups. In this way, it allows each user to generate a personalized ranking according to preference indicators.

The CYD Ranking methodology is based on a system of transparent and reliable indicators to measure the quality of the Spanish university system. With a multidimensional approach, it allows for comparing the performance of universities in their different areas of activity. In addition, it uses institutional indicators, not to say which is the best university, but to offer a vision of the diversity of university profiles.

The CYD Ranking classifies the indicators by performance groups (high, intermediate and low) without the intention to determine which university, institution, field, dimension or indicator is in first, second or third place. It has been prepared in association with U-Multirank and shares the same methodological principles, incorporating other appropriate indicators for the Spanish educational system.

The institutional indicators offer a vision of the diversity of profiles of Spanish universities, insofar as the fields of knowledge are the most appropriate unit to compare the performance of the university. This allows for more precise comparisons between universities that may be of interest to future students, to companies looking for the university with better cooperation links, or to academics who are interested in comparing, the research activity in their field. Finally, for academic and institutional managers, CYD Ranking is a guide that allows to develop a university evaluation strategy.

The indicators are grouped into six criteria:

• teaching and learning (e.g. student-staff ratio, bachelor/master students graduating on time, BA/MA graduation rate, academic staff with doctorates, etc.),
• research (e.g. external research income, post-doc positions, top cited papers, interdisciplinary publications, Open Access publications, etc.),
• knowledge transfer (e.g. co-publications with industrial partners, publications cited in patents, income from private sources, etc.),
• international orientation (BA/MA international students, international academic staff, BA/MA student mobility, international joint publications, etc.),
• contribution to regional development (e.g. student internships in the region, regional publications with industrial partners, regional joint publications, income from region al sources, etc.),
• and job placement. 

The CYD Ranking considers that the results of the student survey should be presented in their own dimension. These data reflect the degree of student satisfaction, while the rest of the indicators are calculated from statistical data from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, the Web of Science or PATSTAT.