- The University of Granada is the Spanish academic institution with the most competitive program of grants for university professors.
- These are the conclusions drawn from the study: 2011 Ranking of Research Production and Productivity in Spanish Universities, conducted by University of Granada researchers.
The University of Granada is the academic institution with the most competitive program of grants for university professors in Spain. In addition, the University of Granada is the third in the country in research production and productivity according to the study 2011 Ranking in Production and Research Productivity in Spanish Public Universities (original title: Ranking de 2011 en producción y productividad en investigación de las universidades públicas españolas), conducted by the University of Granada.
This is the fourth edition of this ranking, which evaluates a total of seven parameters related to the research activity developed in Spanish universities, as follows: number of papers published in JCR-indexed journals, R&D projects, grants for university professors, PhD theses defended, and patents registered, among other parameters. Once all data are collected, two rankings are developed on the institutions with the best research production and productivity.
The University of Granada ranks fourth in R&D projects, and fifth in the number of PhD theses defended in 2011. In the field of patients, the University of Granada ranks fourth in Spain, exceeded only by the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the Polytechnic University of Cataluña and the Polytechnic University of Madrid. The authors of the ranking analyzed the patents registered in the 2006-2010 period and those exploited between 2004 and 2008.
Global Results
The ten universities with a more intensive research activity in Spain in 2011 were: Pompeu Fabra, Pablo de Olavide, Rovira i Virgili, Miguel Hernández, Autónoma de Barcelona, Polytechnic University of Valencia, the Polytechnic University of Cataluña and the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Carlos III and Autónoma de Madrid.
In terms of research production, the most active universities are: the University of Barcelona, the Complutense of Madrid, the University of Granada, the Autonoma of Barcelona, the University of Valencia, the Polytechnic Universities of Cataluña, Basque Country and Valencia, the Autonoma of Madrid and the University of Seville. Some changes occurred in 2011 from the previous year, as a total of nineteen universities climbed up the ranking. Of special note is the effort made by the University Miguel Hernández and Pablo de Olavide –which climbed up six positions–, and the University of A Coruña, which climbed up five positions.
The authors of this study pointed out that “this is a dynamic ranking that changes from year to year depending on the scientific production of the researchers of each university”.
Low International Impact
This study highlights the low impact that the research activity of Spanish universities has at international level. This is evidenced by the poor presence of Spanish universities in international rankings.
For instance, the Shangai ranking of universities (Shangai Jiao Tong University, 2011) includes eleven Spanish universities (Autonoma of Madrid, Complutense of Madrid, the universities of Valencia and Barcelona, Autonoma of Barcelona, Polytechnique of Valencia, the University of Granada , Pompeu Fabra, and the Universities of Santiago de Compostela, Vigo and Zaragoza). However, the Spanish university with the highest position in the ranking got the ranking number 200, which makes it impossible to compete with other universities.
The same occurs in the journal Times Higher Education (2012), where the eight Spanish universities included (Pompeu Fabra, Autonoma of Barcelona, Autonoma of Madrid, University of Valencia, Polytechnique of Catalonia, Polytechnique of Valencia and University of Zaragoza) are below number 186.
The article was published in the journal Psicothema, available at: http://www.ugr.es/~aepc/articulo/RANKING2011.pdf
Contacting person:
Raúl Quevedo Blasco
Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Granada
Phone Number:+34 958 249 559. E-mail address: rquevedo@ugr.es
Gualberto Buela Casal
Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Granada
E-mail: gbuela@ugr.es
