The UOC, fourth best young university in Spain according to Times Higher Education

According to the Young University Rankings published by British education magazine Times Higher Education (THE), the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is the fourth best university under 50 years old in Spain. The UOC ranks behind Pompeu Fabra University (15th place), the CEU Universities (113th place) and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (136th place).

The Times Higher Education rankings measure the excellence of higher education institutions in five categories: teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income. In the latest ranking, the UOC scored 24.2 points for teaching, 23.1 for research, 70.9 for citations, 46.3 for international outlook and 34.7 for industry income.

The indicators are the same thirteen as in THE's flagship World University Rankings, but the relative weightings are adjusted so that less value is given to the institutions' reputation. The latest list of young universities is topped by Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, followed by France's Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The world's longest-standing institutions, ordered on the basis of their individual prestige, have long dominated the world's top rankings. The Times Higher Education Young University Rankings lay bare the importance of young universities in terms of their contribution to society and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their ability to adopt blended learning methodologies.

THE's rankings, along with their Shanghai and QS counterparts, are some of the most prestigious and transparent in the field of higher education. The UOC first broke into the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2018, and was the only online university from Spain to make the cut.