The University of Malaga (UMA) climbs positions in the prestigious Shanghai ranking, which every year evaluates the best educational institutions in the world. If last year it was among the 900 best valued, this year it enters the range between the 701 and the 800 best institutions.
The Andalusian university system improves, for the second consecutive year, its global position in the prestigious ranking of Shanghai (‘Academic Ranking of World Universities – ARWU’). If in 2019 it placed six of its eleven universities (10 public and one private) among the best in the world with the incorporation, in that edition, of the Pablo de Olavide University (UPO), in this latest update, corresponding to 2020, the region manages to add one more: the University of Cadiz (UCA).
Of the 1,000 institutions included in ARWU, seven are Andalusian: the University of Granada (UGR), the University of Seville (US), the University of Cordoba (UCO), the University of Jaen (UJA), the University of Malaga (UMA), the UPO and the UCA. However, only the UGR and the US are included in the Top 500, in the 201-300 and 401-500 ranges, respectively.
This is reflected in a report prepared last April by the Ministry of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities, through the Andalusian Knowledge Agency (AAC), which analyzes the position of the universities of the community in various international rankings. This means having one more Andalusian university in the ranking than last year.
The UCA is the most recent inclusion in this renowned list, considered one of the most reliable and transparent in the world in terms of methodology and results, which was created in 2003 to help Chinese students and researchers to choose a destination abroad.
Spain is the eighth country in the world with the most institutions included in the Shanghai ranking, with a total of 40. The University of Granada continues to be the best positioned of all the Andalusian institutions and, at the national level, occupies second place (between positions 2 and 5), sharing the ranking with the Complutense University of Madrid, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Valencia. The first national position is for the University of Barcelona.
Since 2009, the Shanghai ranking has also included a classification by scientific areas or specialties (ARWU-FIELD), in which the institutions are classified in 54 subjects encompassed within five major fields: natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences and social sciences. The University of Malaga’s Tourism studies stand out in the top 100.