Spanish Universities and the Ranking 2005 Initiative

Abstract

This article assesses the quality of the Spanish higher education system, focusing mainly on the methodological challenges that the existence of public and private universities represents in the calculation of global higher education rankings. Researchers from the University of Barcelona and the University of Pennsylvania calculated the first ranking of higher education institutions in Spain, known as Ranking 2000, a few years ago. The report, Excelencia, calidad de las universidades españolas (Excellence: Quality of the Spanish Universities), included a detailed description of almost 100 indicators used, the data from all universities, and correlations between all indicators. In the present Ranking 2005, the authors present more recent data and an updated methodological discussion; finally, an improved selection of indicators supports a refined final index.

Notes

1. A draft version of this paper was presented at the First Meeting of the Working Group of the Project “Higher Education Rankings Systems and Methodologies: How They Work, What They Do,” held in Washington, D.C., on 10–11 December 2004. For comments, or a longer version of this paper, please contact the authors. Most of the original calculations and analyses were made by Elizabeth Vaquera (University of Pennsylvania) and Jordi Caïs (University of Barcelona), for both the first Ranking 2000 and Ranking 2005. Our thanks go to Jan Sadlak (UNESCO‐CEPES) and Jamie Merisotis (Institute for Higher Education Policy), Juan Salcedo (Laureate, Inc.), Marga and Pau Marí‐Klose (University of Barcelona and the University of Chicago respectively), Diana V. Sancho (University Rey Juan Carlos), Grover C. Jones (Columbia University), and Ramón Sánchez. The research was possible thanks to the Department of Sociology, the Center for European Studies, and the Real Colegio Complutense, all three at Harvard University. Ángel Sáenz Badillos, Director of the Real Colegio Complutense, has been a constant help and encouragement; the number one ranking of the University Complutense is coincidental. Most of the original data comes from official surveys of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, in Madrid, Spain.

2. Other countries in the European Union with higher rates are: Finland 85 percent, Sweden 76 percent, Latvia 64 percent, Slovenia 61 percent, Greece 61 percent, Estonia 60 percent, Denmark 59 percent, and the United Kingdom 59 percent. These gross enrolment ratios need to be compared with 81 percent in the United States, 70 percent in the Russian Federation, 65 percent in Australia, or 59 percent in Canada. The data come from the UNESCO databank.

3. In Spain, 53 percent of higher education students are women, close to the 54 percent average of the 25 countries of the European Union. In the United States and Canada, the rate is already 56 percent, and in the Russian Federation, it is 57 percent. In Sweden, the rate is 59 percent. Some of the new EU member countries have percentages higher than 60 percent (such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). The proportion of female faculty members is 37 percent in Spain, with many other EU countries having a higher percentage (over 50 percent in Latvia and Lithuania). In the United States or Canada, women comprise 41 percent of all faculty members.

4. For the comparative data, we use the UNESCO Global Education Digest 2004: Comparing Education Statistics across the World (2004), available in print and through the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) online database.

5. The first one, which refers to the year 2000, was published in de Miguel et al. (2001). It is the first ranking of universities in Spain, using about 100 indicators. Ranking 2000 appears on page 335, Table 4.6. The second, Ranking 2005, is discussed in the present article.

6. We have preserved the original Spanish name of all universities, translating only ‘University of’, so universities can be identified easily. Sometimes, when they refer to a city, we have used in the text the Standard English translation, as in Navarre (instead of the Spanish Navarra), Saragossa (instead of Zaragoza), or Seville (instead of Sevilla).

7. Spanish official statistics, from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Ministry of Education and Science) do not agree with the international figures. According to the latest UNESCO data, Spanish higher education already has 2 percent of foreigners (a total of 44,860 students), of which 62 percent are Europeans. In the United Kingdom or Germany, the proportion of foreign students is five times greater, and the percentage of Europeans is lower than 50 percent. In France, the proportion of foreign students is four times higher than in Spain, but only 28 percent are Europeans (more than half are from Africa). In the United States, foreigners amount to only 4 percent, but they represent about six hundred thousand students, of which 14 percent from Europe and 62 percent from Asia. Among the ‘old’ European Union of 15 countries, Spain has the lowest rate of foreign students. The recent (2004) incorporation of ten new Member States, many from Eastern Europe, will change that: Poland, for example, has 0.4 percent foreign students, of which 73 percent are European; Hungary has 3 percent foreign students, of which 81 percent European.

8. The report included the discussion of 13 different hypotheses about the ranking process, and suggested other indicators for future reference. Some of these recommendations have been incorporated in the present second ranking effort. The final methodological section is important here as it contains three analyses: (1) the problem of measuring the productivity of undergraduate studies (carreras, in Spanish); (2) the detailed analysis of one concrete university (in this case, the University of Barcelona) to demonstrate the potential of the ranking system; and (3) the methodological treatment of missing data or indicators for which the authors could not calculate an exact figure. Specific recommendations were made in each case. The ranking includes a list of abbreviations, with the acronyms of all indicators. The report bibliography is the most comprehensive one about higher education ever published in Spain.

9. Although private universities in Spain have only 8 percent of higher education students, they make up 44 percent of the top ten universities in eight indicators of the ranking. They are universities with resources but not so much research; or, in other words, resources are significant but results are smaller. On the other hand, the University of Navarre is a private institution that produces almost four times the number of doctoral dissertations than the national average.The best public universities are in Barcelona and Madrid. The two cities host 17 percent of the public universities, but 46 percent of the top ten scorers in the ranking. Universities in Madrid occupy 25 percent of the positions in the top ten, and those in Barcelona 21 percent. That explains, as in many other aspects of social life, the rivalry between Barcelona and Madrid. If we take into account both private and public universities, Madrid and Barcelona together host 32 percent of Spain's universities.The best universities are then a combination of medieval universities, the two ‘autonomous’ universities in Madrid and Barcelona, and two very new universities created and supported by conservative governments: University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid.

10. Electronic publication. A printed version (339 pp.) is available every year.