Overview

• The Universitat de Barcelona soared to 160th in the QS World University Rankings 2026, marking its highest position since 2018 and securing its status as Spain’s top university.
• The Autònoma de Barcelona (172nd) and the Complutense de Madrid (187th) join UB among the three Spanish institutions in the global top 200.
• Spain ranks 10th worldwide with 38 universities featured, surpassing Australia in representation for the 2026 edition.
• The Universidad Europea de Madrid, the Universitat Jaume I de Castellón and the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia appear in the QS rankings for the first time.
• Global leadership remains with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London and Stanford, while China’s Peking University (14th) and Tsinghua University (17th) continue to climb.