Despite the fact that UC3M is a very young university, it stands out within Spain as one of the top centers of business-related teaching and research. In addition, it is increasingly being recognized within Europe as a leading academic center .

Since 2001, the newspaper El Mundo has been publishing rankings of undergraduate degrees in Spain, and UC3M has been systematically ranked among the top schools in Business Administration: : it was ranked first in 2001-02, second in 2002-03, and first again in 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-06. These rankings include both public and private universities.

The PhD in Business Administration and Quantitative Methods, which is organized by the Department of Business Administration and the Department of Statistics and Econometrics, has obtained the national accreditation granted by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación, ANECA), a Spanish government agency. Other six UC3M PhD programs are also accredited by ANECA.

UC3M is also very well placed in different European economics research rankings: according to the ranking of Pantelis Kalaitzidakis, Theofanis Mamuneas and Thanasis Stengos, it is number 52 in the world and number 10 in Europe ; according to Christian Roessler it is among the top 40 universities in the world.

Finally, the university is strong in applying Information Technologies to education. According to research conducted at Universidad de Oviedo, UC3M on-line programs are ranked in the seventh position in Spain . Annexe I shows more detailed information about the different rankings mentioned.