UOC gains in international outlook according to CYD Ranking

The UOC's indicators for international outlook increased twofold, and the indicators for research were also up, according to the 2023 CYD Ranking, which rates the performance of Spanish universities. These results come from the 10th ranking, which looked at 80 universities in Spain, 29 branches of knowledge and 3,266 programmes.

Of the 36 performance indicators in which the UOC is assessed in the 2023 CYD Ranking, it received the top mark – "high performance" – in 13.

In the ranking's international outlook category, the UOC has received four high-performance scores (two more than last year) for the following indicators: foreign internships, foreign teaching staff, international doctoral theses and international publications. It also received an average-performance score for bachelor's degree programmes taught in a foreign language.

The ranking also gives the university four high-performance scores for research category indicators, one more than in the 2022 ranking. More specifically, it receives the highest rating for publications by member of teaching staff, highly cited publications, standardized impact of the publications and research periods. It also obtains four average-performance scores for external research funds disposed of, external research funds awarded, open-access publications and postdoctoral researchers.

These achievements reflects the university's commitment to research and innovation, conducted by more than 500 researchers spread across over 50 research groups, the eLearning Research programme, two research centres (the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute [IN3] and the eHealth Center) and the Doctoral School. Moreover, the UOC promotes innovation in e-learning through its eLearning Innovation Center (eLinC), and knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship in the UOC community through its Hubbik platform.

The UOC has also received three further high-performance indicator scores in the teaching and learning category. More specifically, it obtained top marks for the success rate indicator and for the percentage of students from other autonomous communities on both its bachelor's and master's degree programmes. It also secured two average-performance scores, for the performance rate indicators for both its bachelor's and master's degree programmes.

Lastly, in the knowledge transfer category, the UOC has been given two high-performance scores for the revenue from licences, and from continuing education.

It also obtained three average-performance marks for its spin-offs, publications with companies, and patents granted by member of teaching staff. These results reflect the work done by the university in recent years to create closer ties with businesses, other universities and R&I institutions, in line with the third objective that all universities must achieve: knowledge and technology transfer.

The ranking also assesses universities' contribution to regional development. Here, the UOC obtained three average-performance scores for regional publications, publications with regional companies, and regional research funds.

The UOC, Spain's top-ranked online university

The ranking awarded the UOC high-performance scores for 13 indicators, thus putting it ahead of the Universidad Isabel I, with nine, the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR), with eight, the Universidad Internacional de Valencia (VIU), with six, the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), with five, and the Universidad a Distancia de Madrid (UDIMA), with three.

The 10th CYD Ranking

In this ranking by the CYD Foundation, the top 10 universities in Spain (i.e. those with the greatest number of "high-performance" indicator scores) are Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universidad de Navarra, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, University of Barcelona, Comillas Pontifical University, University of Deusto, Pompeu Fabra University, Universitat Rovira i Virgili and Ramon Llull University.

The participating universities represent 93% of the 86 universities teaching the bachelor's degree programmes included in Spain's official Register of Universities, Centres and Qualifications. Of these, 48 are public (all of them were included) and 32 are private (which represents 89% of the total).

The autonomous communities with the greatest number of high-performance indicator scores are Navarre, Catalonia and the Basque Country.