In September, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released the latest version of its World University Rankings, where American schools such as the Massachusets Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford and Harvard lead the way, followed by British institutions such as Cambridge or Oxford. It also ranks the best institutions in Latin America.
Latin America has improved their position in rankings of higher education institutions. There is a considerable progress of institutions such as the Universidad de Buenos Aires (85°), the Universidad de Sao Paulo (120°), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (128°) and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (147°), not only amongst the best Latin American universities, but the world.
La Nación reports the significant development of the Argentine capital’s leading university. However, the rector of the institution, Alberto Barbieri, says that “whether we do better or worse, rankings don’t reflect all that this university produces (…), given that how the world takes it into consideration, it is very important. This evaluation is divided into two sections, an international and a Latin American one. In both, we are increasingly better."
Source: QS World University Rankings 2016/17
The magazine Época Negocios reports that the university climbs 23 places on the rankings, especially due to academic and employer reputation. However, 18 of 22 colleges in Brazil fall in the rankings.
Source: QS World University Rankings 2016/17
In Mexico, Animal Político informs that the university has not only risen 30 places from 2015, but that it has climbed 100 spots in other reports, such as the Shanghai Ranking.
Source: QS World University Rankings 2016/17
PUC's place is “news that must cheer up the entire country,” the rector Ignacio Sánchez tells El Mercurio, as the institution has stepped up 184 places from 2009. “This is due to the commitment and serious work of academics, students, professionals and administrators. That is, the entire community has done a job of excellence”.
Source: QS World University Rankings 2016/17
El Comercio regrets that only one organization in the country, the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, was amongst the top 500 universities in the world. But it also highlights the achievements of Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and Cayetano Heredia (UPCH).
Source: QS World University Rankings 2016/17
El Tiempo values the increase of the number of colleges in the ranking, from 8 to 10, and the fact that the Universidad Nacional outranked the Universidad de Los Andes as the best institution in the country. However, for the expert at QS, “Colombian universities show classrooms that are too cluttered by international standards,” as “seven out of ten Colombian universities in the rankings have fallen in the Student-to-faculty ratio.”
Source: QS World University Rankings 2016/17
Instead of verifying and promoting the quality of universities, QS' rankings mainly account for institutional reputation. Its methodology for the score is divided into:
However, for many experts, this doesn’t mean that these are the best quality universities in Latin America, as the use of these evaluation tools, is questioned. For instance, El Mercurio reports that, despite leading the QS world university rankings, the Universidad de Buenos Aires simply doesn’t appear in the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, as the institution declined to participate.
Ángel Calderón, the specialist in higher education and advisor on Planning and Research at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, tells El Mercurio that these rankings:
“Don’t account for the idiosyncrasy of national education systems or each country’s particularities. For instance, the access to higher education for socially disadvantaged people."
Martin Juno, a QS analyst, admits that the institution doesn’t take graduation rates among its indicators, as the distinct particularities of each educational system “make an international comparison difficult.”
Despite these simplifications, Calderón says that rankings are a “necessary evil.” Even if it’s a narrow view of many dimension of a university, with time “they have become tools of public accountability which have highlighted the need to improve quality on many levels,” he tells El Mercurio.
What do you think about these rankings? What other areas should these higher education benchmarks measure?