The Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) continues to lead the CYD ranking as the best university. The classification, which measures the quality of the university system in its different areas of activity. The University of Navarra is in second place and the Autonomous University of Madrid has displaced Carlos III from third position. Navarra, Catalonia and the Basque Country are the autonomous communities with the most indicators in the highest performance group

The ranking, which has been prepared since 2013, presents results from 81 university centers, 30 areas of knowledge and 3,407 degrees. The UAB (Barcelona), the University of Navarra and the Autonomous University of Madrid are followed on the list of best universities by Carlos III of Madrid and Barcelona, ??Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona), Deusto (Basque Country), Pontificia Comillas ( Madrid), Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona), Ramon Llull (Barcelona) and València-Estudi General. Universities represent 91% of the 89 active universities that provide courses included in the RUCT (Registry of Universities, Centers and Degrees). 48 of them are public and 33 private.

Regarding the 2023 edition, the University of Barcelona (UB) has fallen from the top ten and the University of Valencia-Estudi General occupies the tenth position.

For classification, indicators are collected by performance groups (high, intermediate and low) to guide the user when comparing the performance of universities in terms of teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, internationalization, contribution to regional development and job insertion.

The conclusions of the work reflect that Navarra, Catalonia and the Basque Country are the autonomies with the most indicators in the group with the highest performance. In Teaching and learning, Navarra, the Basque Country and Madrid stand out; in Research, Navarra, Cantabria and Catalonia, and Galicia; in Knowledge Transfer, Catalonia, Navarra and the Basque Country, and Galicia; in International Orientation, Navarra, Catalonia and the Basque Country; and in Contribution to regional development, Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands and the Basque Country in first place, followed by Catalonia and Madrid.

The CYD ranking analyzes thirty areas of knowledge, including Economics, History, Business Administration, Education, Law, Journalism and Communication, Biology, Physics or Chemistry. In this edition, the eleventh, the field of physiotherapy has been incorporated. In addition, it presents updated data on Agriculture, Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, Psychology, Social Work and Veterinary Medicine.

Women make up the majority of enrollments in health fields such as nursing (81.3%), psychology (76.8) or pharmacy (71%), but as the academic career progresses, their presence decreases. Thus, 58.64% of the theses are read by women and 40.70% are professors. Ángela Mediavilla, director of the Ranking, warns in this sense that women enrolled in medicine represent 61.5%, but “female professors in this field are 25.6%.”

This year, CYD has incorporated a job placement test that allows us to know the employment rate of the career that interests us and to know, for example, how many people have a contract one year after graduating.