RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has 13 universities among the 1,000 best higher education institutions in the world, according to the new edition of the British consultancy Times Higher Education ranking, one of the most prestigious in the sector.
The two leaders in Brazil, the University of São Paulo (USP) and the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), have also climbed in position.
Last year, USP was among the top 300 and now ranks among the top 250, upholding its position as the best university in Latin America. UNICAMP also climbed from 600th to 500th position.
From the 200th position, the ranking no longer includes the institutions’ individual ranking, which is made up of groups.
Times Higher Education assessed 1,527 institutions in over 90 countries, on criteria such as teaching, research, internationalization, academic citations and others. In all, Brazil has 52 universities assessed, most of them federal and state public institutions.
Brazil also had six new universities listed in the ranking, with the Federal University of Sergipe standing out as one of the top 800. However, the country still lacks representatives in the top 200. In terms of teaching and research, USP was also among the top 100.
Among private institutions, only PUC-RJ (among the top 800), PUC-RS (among the top 1,000), PUC-PR, PUC-MG, Caxias do Sul University and Vale do Rio dos Sinos University in Rio Grande do Sul (all in the group below 1,000) are listed.
Chinese progress and American dominance
As in the preceding ranking, Oxford University in the UK was ranked as the best university in the world, followed by Stanford and Harvard Universities in the US.
Among the top ten universities, eight are American. Apart from Oxford, the other non-American in the top 10 is Cambridge University, also in the UK, which fell from third to sixth place.
This year’s ranking also included an Asian university in the top 20 for the first time since 2011, when the current methodology began to be employed. The best in the region was a Chinese institution, Tsinghua University. The number of Chinese universities in the top 100 also rose from three to six.
The Times Higher Education points out that Chinese universities have been constantly improving in the ranking in recent years and “closing the gap” to American and European universities.
Among the countries most represented in the top 200 ranking are the United States (59 institutions), the United Kingdom (29), Germany (21) and Australia (12). Then, with fewer than ten universities each, are the Netherlands (8), Canada (8), China (7), South Korea (7), Switzerland (7), France (5), Hong Kong (5) and Sweden (5).
The financial impacts of the coronavirus on universities may also be greater in the West than in Asia. A Times Higher Education survey of university leaders shows that 87 percent of respondents in North America believe the pandemic will lead to the bankruptcy of universities in their countries. In Asia, it is 17 percent.
One of the challenges for universities in the West and in countries like Australia is that the pandemic is reducing the number of foreign students. In these countries, it is more common for scholarships or grants to be offered to local students, whereas foreigners to pay higher tuition fees, thereby financially sustaining the institutions.
The Best Brazilian institutions
RANKING UNIVERSITY
201-250 University of São Paulo
401-500 State University of Campinas
601-800 Federal University of Minas Gerais
601-800 Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
601-800 Federal University of Santa Catarina
601-800 Federal University of São Paulo
601-800 Federal University of Sergipe
601-800 Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
801-1000 University of Brasília
801-1000 Federal University of Pelotas
801-1000 Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
801-1000 Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul
801-1000 São Paulo State University
1001+ University of Caxias do Sul
1001+ State University of Ceará
1001+ Federal University of ABC
1001+ Federal University of Alagoas
1001+ Federal University of Bahia
1001+ Federal University of Ceará
1001+ Federal University of Espírito Santo
1001+ Federal University of Goiás
1001+ Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre
1001+ Federal University of Itajubá
1001+ Federal University of Juiz de Fora
1001+ Federal University of Lavras
1001+ Federal University of Maranhão
1001+ Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul
1001+ Federal University of Ouro Preto
1001+ Federal University of Pará
1001+ Federal University of Paraíba
1001+ Federal University of Paraná
1001+ Federal University of Pernambuco
1001+ Federal University of Piauí
1001+ Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
1001+ Federal Rural University of Semi-Árido
1001+ Federal University of Santa Maria
1001+ Federal University of São Carlos
1001+ Federal Technological University of Paraná
1001+ Federal University of Uberlândia
1001+ Federal University of Viçosa
1001+ Fluminense Federal University
1001+ University of Fortaleza
1001+ State University of Londrina
1001+ Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais
1001+ Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná
1001+ Rio de Janeiro State University
1001+ Santa Catarina State University
1001+ State University of Maringá
1001+ State University of Ponta Grossa
1001+ Santa Cruz State University
1001+ University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos
1001+ State University of Western Paraná
Source: Exame