Browse the Latin America University Rankings 2022 results
Brazilian universities are the best-performing institutions in Latin America, on average, according to Times Higher Education’s latest ranking for the region.
Brazil has the highest average overall score of all countries of 51.3 out of 100, up from 48.9 last year, based on nations with 10 or more universities ranked this year and last. The country dominates the top of the THE Latin America University Rankings, with 28 universities in the top 50 and seven in the top 10.
However, the top spot goes to a Chilean university, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, for the fourth year in a row.
The second and third spots are both taken by Brazilian institutions: the University of São Paulo and the University of Campinas. Both scored the highest possible marks for research, and also scored well for teaching.
The countries with the most ranked institutions are Brazil with 72 universities, followed by Chile (30), Colombia (29), Mexico (26), Ecuador (13) and Peru (10).
Brazil also has the highest average score for teaching, at 55.6, while Mexico is second with 43.5 and Chile third at 35.9. Brazil has the highest average score for research, too.
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Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, rector of the University of Campinas, attributed its success in part to the funding model in the state of São Paulo, which it says has enabled the institution to plan long-term.
“There is a legal provision in force in São Paulo that obliges the state to allocate, every year, the same percentage of the revenue of its main tax – the so-called ICMS – to fund the activities of Unicamp [and other state universities]…The creation of this provision, in 1989, has made it possible for the São Paulo state universities to plan their investments ahead and strategically over the last three decades,” Meirelles said.
He added: “Currently, the existence of this mechanism is helping to keep Unicamp and its sisters relatively protected from the harmful effects of the cuts in federal funds for science and technology, which contributes to them doing well in the rankings.”
He also attributed the success to high-quality processes for selecting academics, staff and undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The THE Latin America University Rankings lists the top institutions in the Latin America and Caribbean region. It is based on the same 13 rigorous performance indicators that underpin the THE World University Rankings, but the weightings have been recalibrated to reflect the characteristics of Latin America’s universities. Universities are evaluated across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
The 2022 ranking includes 197 institutions across 13 countries, up from 177 institutions last year.
| 2022 rank | 2021 rank | Institution | Country |
| 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 |
