The University of Barcelona (Catalan: Universitat de Barcelona, UB; Spanish: Universidad de Barcelona) is a publicresearch university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With 76,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities in Spain. It is one of the oldest universities in both Catalonia and Spain, established in 1450. It is considered the best university in Spain, according to the US News and World Report and Times Higher Education.
It has 106 departments and more than 5,000 full-time researchers, technicians and research assistants, most of whom work in the 243 research groups as recognized and supported by the Government of Catalonia. In 2010, the UB was awarded 175 national research grants and 17 European grants and participated in over 500 joint research projects with the business sector, generating an overall research income of 70 million euros.
The work of these groups is overseen by the UB’s research centres and institutes which collaborate with leading research institutions and networks in Spain and abroad. The UB is also home to three large research foundations: the Barcelona Science Park Foundation (PCB), which includes the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona (IRBB); the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS); and the Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL). The UB is also a degree-awarding body of the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI).
In 2020, QS World University Rankings by Subject placed the UB in the top 50 for the following subjects: Anatomy and Physiology (14th), Library Science and Information Management (43rd), Philosophy (45th) and Archaeology (47th), while the ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (ARWU) placed it 48th for Clinical Medicine. THE Europe Teaching Rankings 2019 ranked the UB 29th and THE 2020 Impact Rankings ranked it 91st overall, with 14th for Quality Education and 43rd for Partnerships for the Goals. The QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2020 ranked it 80th. Overall, the UB has been ranked 1st in Spain in most of the 2023-2024 rankings (according to the Shanghai Ranking-Universities, it is among 201-300 of the “Academic Ranking of World Universities”) and is located around the 50th place in Europe.
