Latin America's Best Universities Revealed by Times Higher Education

Latin America’s top-performing universities revealed today by Times Higher Education.
July 14, 2022

#THELatAm #THEUniRankings #highereducation 

  • Record 197 universities from 13 countries across Latin America ranked  
  • Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile tops the Rankings for the fourth consecutive year 
  • Brazil’s University of São Paulo takes 2nd place for the 6th consecutive year 
  • Two Brazilian universities in the top ten - Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) and Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina jump up five places since 2021, (from 9th to fourth and =11th to sixth, respectively)  
  • Brazil maintains its position as the most represented country in the overall Latin America rankings (72 universities), followed by Chile (30), Colombia (29), and Mexico(26) 
  • Brazil’s Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) returns to the rankings again this year in 78th place having been absent last year, after ranking 87th in 2020.  
  • Mexico has ten institutions ranked in the top 100. Of these ten universities, three are inside the top 50 (5th, 16th and 30th place respectively) 
  • Colombia has an impressive 9 universities ranked inside the top 100, including four inside the top 50 (13th, 18th, 25th, 43rd). The best performing Colombian institution is University of the Andes which has maintained its 13th position for two consecutive years  
  • Peru has three universities ranked inside the top 100 with two inside the top 50 (35th, 36th respectively). The top performing Peruvian university is Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, which jumps up 16 places from 51st to 35th on last year’s ranking 
  • Jamaica’s University of the West Indies ranks 21st, inside the top 50 this year, up two places from 19th in 2021 
  • Costa Rica has three universities in the top 150, with its best performing university, The University of Costa Rica, ranked 31st (up six places from 25th in 2021), inside the top 50  
  • Cuba has one outstanding university ranked inside the top 100 with The University of Havana being the best performing (42nd up 12 places from last year)  
  • Argentina has six universities in the top 100 this year, with the highest-ranking Argentinian institution being Austral University (44th) 
  • Puerto Rico has one institution - The University of Puerto Rico - ranked 56th (up thirteen places on last year), inside the top 100   
  • Ecuador has three universities ranked inside the top 100 this year (58th, 65th, 72nd respectively), with 13 universities in the overall rankings, of which, Universidad San Francisco de Quito is the highest ranked (58th) 
  • Venezuela has one university inside the top 100 - Simon Bolivar University – a new entrant this year in 85th place, with a further two institutions in the rankings 
  • Uruguay has one university in the top 150 – ORT Uruguay University 
  • Twenty-five universities are new entrants in the Latin America rankings this year 
  • Four universities have entered the Top 100 for the first time  
  • View the full Latin America University Rankings 2022 results: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2022/latin-america-university-rankings 
  • View the full Latin America University Rankings 2022 methodology: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/latin-america-university-rankings-2022-methodology 
  • Scroll down for country analyses, top 100 table and list of top performers by country 
  • If you decide to reproduce any of our data, please can you provide us with a link to the relevant URL and credit Times Higher Education 

 

London, 14 July 2022 

Latin America’s top-performing universities have been revealed today in the Times Higher Education Latin America University Rankings 2022.Comprising 197 universities from 13 countries, the list highlights the dynamism and strength of higher education across Latin America.  

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile tops the Rankings for the fourth consecutive year. 

Brazil is the most-represented nation overall, with seven institutions in the top ten this year and 28 in the top 50 (a slight decline from 29 in the top 50 last year).  

Compared to 2021 there are 25 new universities entering the rankings.  Overall, there are 19 universities making their debut for the very first time. 

 

Latin America University Rankings 2022: top 10 

2022 rank 

2021 rank 

Institution  

Country/region 

 1  

 1  

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile 

Chile 

 2  

 2  

University of São Paulo 

Brazil 

 3  

 3  

University of Campinas 

Brazil 

 4  

 9  

Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) 

Brazil 

 5  

 4  

Monterrey Institute of Technology 

Mexico 

 6  

 =11  

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 

Brazil 

 7  

 6  

University of Chile 

Chile 

 8  

 8  

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul 

Brazil 

 9  

 5  

Federal University of Minas Gerais 

Brazil 

 10  

 7 

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) 

Brazil 

 

Phil Baty, THE’s Chief Knowledge Officer, said:  

“The Times Higher Education Latin America Rankings, spun out from our gold-standard World University Rankings to provide a closer focus on the Latin American context, are based on the most comprehensive, balanced and rigorous set of performance indicators available, with 13 separate metrics used to assess research-intensive universities across their teaching, research, international outlook and their collaboration with industry. 

“Once again, this new dataset shows there is a real diversity of excellence across Latin America – although just three dominant countries, Chile, Brazil and Mexico, make the very top of the rankings, there are 13 countries represented in the overall list.” 

Country and region highlights 

Brazil’s University of São Paulo takes 2nd place for the 6th consecutive year and Brazilian universities dominate the ranking, taking 72 places, up from 67 last year. Brazil outperforms the Latin American average on most metrics except citation impact and international metrics and has made significant improvements in research quality and quantity. However, Brazil shows a slight decline this year in terms of the number of institutions in the top 50, which drops from 29 to 28. 

Chile Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile tops the Rankings for the 4th consecutive year. However, only one other Chilean university features in the top 20: the University of Chile in 7th place, down from 6th last year. The country is the second most-represented nation overall, with 30 institutions ranked, up from 28 last year. Chilean universities excel in the quality and quantity of academic publications produced and in the international metrics. Chile continues to improve its reputation and record for producing quality research. 

Colombia This year, the number of universities in the Latin America rankings from Colombia jumps from 24 to 29, with nine of these making the top 100 - up from eight in 2021. The University of the Andes, Colombia is still the nation’s top institution, holding on to 13th place. 

Ecuador once again has three universities ranked in the top 100 – the same as last year – and 13 ranked overall, up from 11. The highest-ranking Ecuadorean university is Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in 58th place overall. 

Mexico has ten institutions ranked in the top 100 this year, down from 11 in 2021 and 16 in 2018. Of these ten universities, three are inside the top 50 (5th, 16th and 30th place respectively). The top institution is Monterrey Institute of Technology. Overall, 26 Mexican universities are ranked, up from 23 last year.  

Peru has three universities in the top 100 this year, a slight drop from four the previous year but higher than two in 2018 and 2019. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia is now the top-ranked Peruvian university, after climbing 16 places to 35th position. The University overtakes Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, which remains in 36th place. 

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