Universidade de São Paulo Tops QS University Rankings: Latin America 2015

The 2015 edition of the QS University Rankings: Latin America, released today, is topped by Brazil’s Universidade de São Paulo, which climbs from second position to steal the crown from Chile’s Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile. The latter slips to third position, while the Brazilian Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) climbs one place to second.

Brazil continues to dominate the ranking overall, claiming 17 representatives in the top 50 alone. However, there are strong performances from leading universities across the region, including the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in sixth place and the Universidad de Los Andes Colombia in seventh. The top 20 also features entries from Argentina and Peru, while Costa Rica’s leading representative, the Universidad de Costa Rica, climbs two places to rank 21^st.

Continued success for Brazil’s top universities

Brazil has claimed the strongest presence in the ranking since its inception, and the 2015 edition is no exception. Among its 17 top-50 representatives, eight have strengthened their positions this year, with a particularly impressive leap from the Universidade de Brasilia, which climbs seven places to rank 10^th.

Slightly lower down, even greater progress has been achieved by the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) and the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Both have gained 17 places to climb from 40^th and 41^st to 23^rd and 24^th this year – the largest gains in this top tier of the ranking.

Following Brazil, Chile is the region’s second major player, accounting for eight of the region’s top 50 universities, including two within the top five. Argentina likewise has eight top-50 entries, with its highest place going to the Universidad de Buenos Aires, which gains four places to reach 15^th. Mexico has seven top-50 positions, and Colombia five.

Extensions to the ranking this year

This is the fifth edition of the QS University Rankings: Latin America, which has been published annually since 2011. The ranking’s methodology draws on seven indicators, relating to academic and employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, research productivity and impact, online presence and proportion of staff with a PhD.

The ranking has been extended this year, to feature a total of 300 institutions (previously 250). A total of 20 Latin American countries are represented: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela.

For expert commentary on this year’s edition of the ranking, the supplementary report is available for free online access. Join the conversation on Twitter with #QSWUR.