Sensibilidad y elasticidad de las universidades espanolas a los indicadores del Ranking de Shanghai (ARWU)

The Shanghai ranking (ARWU) is one of the best known and most influential, good proof is its presence in traditional and digital media when it is published every year. Due to its characteristics, it is one of the most used and referenced in university management. This work analyzes the sensitivity and elasticity of the indicators that comprise it, distinguishing between indicators of a personal and institutional nature. The analysis focuses on the Spanish univer-sities among the thousand collected in 2021, showing those that are more and less sensitive and elastic to the different indicators, both in position and in score. In addition, five homogeneous groups of universities are identified based on their elasticity. This shows the great heterogeneity of the changes due to the elimination of each indicator and type of university. This is useful for benchmarking between universities and identifying improvement actions to manage presence in the ranking.