20 Chilean universities among the top 100 in Latin America

Once again, Chile stands out in the region for the quality of its higher education, leading the Times Higher Education ranking which lists the best universities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Chile’s Pontificia Universidad Católica obtained first place in this year’s ranking, which has historically been led by Brazilian institutions.

According to Simon Marginson, professor of higher education at the University of Oxford and director of the Centre for Global Higher Education, Chile is one country that is performing well above expectations. “Chile is lifting its research performance, and both public and private universities figure in the rankings”, he said

This year, the ranking was extended to include 150 universities from 12 countries, compared to 129 institutions from 10 countries last year. The universities are ranked based on the same 13 rigorous performance indicators as those used in the global rankings, but the weightings are adjusted to reflect the following characteristics of Latin American universities: teaching, research, industry income and international outlook.

Changes in the ranking

First place in the ranking is held by Chilean university Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Meanwhile, other Chilean institutions, including Universidad de Chile (7) and Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (23), also achieved prominent places in the list.

Brazil’s Universidade de São Paulo remains in second place. Meanwhile, the top university in last year’s ranking, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, fell to third place. The remaining top-five universities included Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, which increased its position by three places to fourth, while Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey remains in fifth place.

Brazil is the country with the highest number of universities featuring in the ranking, with more than a third of all universities included and six of the top 10. A total of 52 Brazilian universities were included in this year’s ranking, compared to 43 last year. Chile remains the second most represented country with 30 universities, compared to 26 in 2018.

The following universities included in the ranking form part of Learn Chile. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (23), Universidad de Santiago de Chile (24), Universidad de La Frontera (42), Universidad de Valparaíso (43), Universidad de los Andes (47), Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (51), Universidad Autónoma de Chile (71), Universidad del Desarrollo (81) and Universidad del Bío-Bío (91).