How these universities are ranked
16 of these universities hold a QS World position, from #149 (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) to #544 (Universidad de Zaragoza); they are listed first, in that order. The rest are ordered by research impact. University of Barcelona has the largest research record in this group, with 17,237,350 citations and an h-index of 1,022. 18 universities have neither a QS position nor a research record yet and appear at the end, marked "Not yet ranked".
Public, private and where they are
The split is 97 public to 0 private institutions. By location, Catalonia (2) and Community of Madrid (2) account for the most of those we can place. The oldest is University of Barcelona, founded in 1450. Universidad Europea de Madrid is the largest, with 130,000 students.
What the courses look like
By level: 1,417 bachelor's, 550 master's, 304 phd / doctorate and 30 professional. The most common subjects are Business & Management (376), Engineering (230), Medicine & Health Sciences (164) and Social Sciences & Psychology (133). The usual length is 4 years and 9 to 12 months. 96% are full-time and 46 can be studied online. Start dates lean to Fall (91% of courses with a stated intake) and Spring (82% of courses with a stated intake). Bircham International University offers the widest choice, with 834 of these courses.
What it costs
We hold indicative fees for 4 of these universities. Complutense University of Madrid is the least expensive at USD 3,000 a year and University of Barcelona the most at USD 3,500; the middle of the range is about USD 3,500. Check each university's own fee page before you budget — figures change every year.
