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Brazilian Universities Retain Lead in Latin American Ranking
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Brazilian Universities Retain Lead in Latin American Ranking
By Laura Bridgestock
Updated December 12, 2018 Updated December 12, 2018The 2016 edition of the QS University Rankings: Latin America sees Brazilian universities retain their dominance of the table. Brazil’s Universidade de Sao Paulo and Universidade Estadual de Campinas retain their positions as the region’s top two, joined by the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and Universidade de Brasilia within the top 10. Overall, Brazilian universities account for 76 of the 300 Latin American universities featured in the ranking, comfortably more than any other nation.
While Chile’s Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile holds onto third place, Mexico’s Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico climbs two positions to rank fourth – swapping places with the Universidad de Chile. It’s also a good year for Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), which rises from 9th to 7th. The only other nation to feature in the top 10 is Colombia, with Universidad de Los Andes in 8th place and Universidad Nacional de Colombia climbing three places to 10th.
Top 10 Universities in Latin America
Based on the QS University Rankings: Latin America 2016
2016
2015
Institution
Country
1
1
Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
Brazil
2
2
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp)
Brazil
3
3
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC)
Chile
4
6
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Mexico
5
5
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
6
4
Universidad de Chile
Chile
7
9
Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM)
Mexico
8
7
Universidad de los Andes Colombia
Colombia
9
10
Universidade de Brasilia
Brazil
10
13
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Colombia
View the full ranking results
After Brazil, Mexico is the second most-represented nation in the ranking, with 45 entries – ahead of Colombia, with 41. Argentina makes 34 appearances, led by the Universidad de Buenos Aires, which is now just outside the top 10, having climbed from 15th to 11th this year. Chile has 30 featured universities, and Peru 17.
Also featured are Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, El Salvador, Uruguay and Venezuela – bringing the total number of nations covered to 20.
First published in 2011, the QS University Rankings: Latin America aims to celebrate and track the strengths and progress of leading universities in the region. It is compiled using a methodology which draws on eight performance indicators: academic reputation, employment reputation, faculty/student ratio, papers per faculty, citations per paper, proportion of staff with a PhD, online impact and international research network (a new measure for 2016).
This article was originally published in June 2016 . It was last updated in December 2018
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The former editor of TopUniversities.com, Laura oversaw the site's editorial content and student forums. She also edited the QS Top Grad School Guide and contributed to market research reports, including 'How Do Students Use Rankings?'
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