Unicamp remained in the group of the 40 best universities in countries with emerging economies, according to the ranking released this Tuesday afternoon (15) by the British magazine Times Higher Education (THE), specialized in evaluating the performance of higher education institutions. According to the publication, the University occupies the fortieth position in the list, being the second best placed in Brazil, behind only the University of São Paulo (USP), which is in 15th place. In total, 450 universities from 43 countries were analyzed.
In the current edition of the ranking, the three state universities in São Paulo lost positions compared to the previous list. In 2018, Unicamp ranked 33rd, while USP ranked 14th. The Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), which appeared in 162nd place in 2018, fell to 166th this year. In total, 36 Brazilian institutions appear in the study, which considers the same 13 performance indicators as THE World University Rankings.
These, however, are calibrated to reflect the development priorities of higher schools in countries with emerging economies. In the assessment, areas such as teaching (the learning environment) are taken into account; research (volume, yield and reputation); citations (research influence); international perspective (team, students and researchers); and industry income (knowledge transfer).
Dean Marcelo Knobel stated that Unicamp is analyzing the results released by THE. He remembers that the rankings are very competitive, with several universities in a very similar situation. “If we analyze the score, it remained basically constant, but there were certainly some universities ahead of us. We still have to evaluate the results, to know whether this change in position is just a natural fluctuation or a trend, not only for Unicamp, but for Brazilian universities as a whole”.
Knobel highlighted that the University does not have positioning in rankings as an objective. “We believe that this should be a consequence of the work we do to improve teaching, research and extension.” The rector also emphasized that Unicamp has encouraged strategic partnerships with universities in different regions of the world, as a way of expanding the internationalization of research and publications.
Furthermore, efforts have been made to expand interdisciplinary collaborations and reduce bureaucracy for researchers and teachers. “In general, the University has suffered a lot from the economic crisis, and we are doing everything we can to ensure that this crisis does not have consequences on our activities, which are fundamental for the State of São Paulo and Brazil”, he declared.
In the opinion of Ellie Bothwell, global rankings editor at THE, the Brazilian scenario is one of stagnation. The British publication indicates that the country's performance is linked to financial cuts. "As in many Latin American countries, Brazil's higher education sector is suffering serious side effects from continued funding cuts", points out Ellie. The ranking is dominated by Chinese universities, which occupy the top four places. Among the top 30, Russian, South African, Turkish and Indian universities also appear.
