For the fifth consecutive year, Unicamp remained the third best university in Latin America, according to the ranking by the British consultancy Times Higher Education released this Tuesday (4). Among the indicators responsible for the institution's prominence are the excellence of research and teaching offered, in addition to the potential for innovation indicated by the transfer of knowledge carried out by the university.
This year, the Times Higher Education Latin America ranking classified 197 institutions from 15 countries. The survey evaluates 13 indicators from five major areas: teaching, with greater weight in the general ranking of universities, corresponding to 36% of the grade; research, with 34% of the score; citations and research impact, with 20%; internationalization, corresponding to 7,5%; and knowledge transfer, with an impact of 2,5% on the final grade.
Unicamp had an overall evaluation of 87,0 points, slightly below last year's result, when the university obtained 87,9 points. Among the items evaluated, the highlight is the excellence of the research carried out, evaluated with the maximum score, 100,0 points, followed by the quality of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, with 90,9 points. In relation to technology transfer, Unicamp obtained 79,8 points; the impact of research, through citations, was evaluated with 71,4 points; and the internationalization of the university obtained 53,4 points.
“The Times Higher Education is a traditional ranking, which takes into account the main academic parameters, such as the quality of teaching and the impact of research, indicators in which Unicamp does very well”, assesses Renato Garcia, teaching advisor at Pró- Dean of University Development (PRDU).
During the meeting of the Teaching, Research and Extension Chamber (Cepe), the dean of University Development, Fernando Sarti, highlighted the collaboration of the teams involved in data collection to systematize information related to the university's work, which allows for a more detailed assessment that helps with management itself. "This has allowed us to continue climbing the rankings in absolute terms. It should be noted, however, that the main rankings have registered an increasing participation of universities around the world", he highlights.
Sarti points out that the challenge, not only for Unicamp, but for Brazilian institutions in general, is to expand internationalization through the presence of more foreign students, researchers and professors on their staff. He mentions actions that are already being developed in this regard, such as the New Teachers Incentive Program (PIND) and the Post-Doctoral Researcher Program (PPPD). "These are initiatives taken to deepen the internationalization of the university within our possibilities", he points out.
São Paulo states among the ten best
Brazil is the country with the largest number of universities classified in the ranking, with a total of 65 of the 197 institutions. Among the 20 best universities on the continent, 14 are Brazilian. At the top of the ranking is the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, followed by the University of São Paulo (USP) and Unicamp.
In this year's survey, São Paulo's state universities stand out for their excellence: in addition to USP and Unicamp, the São Paulo State University (Unesp) was ranked tenth in the ranking, demonstrating the quality of public university education in São Paulo.
