HE News Brief 18.10.11
by Abby Chau
- UK: A new report outlining the higher education outlook
- LATIN AMERICA: A new rankings of the region has raised questions about governmental spending habits
- INDIA: Foreign branches must adhere to too many restrictions
- US: Some institutions have closed foreign branches
- AUSTRALIA: Trends for international student numbers Continue Reading
Map of Top Latin American Universities
The following map offers a snapshot of the top 200 institutions included in the 2011 QS University Rankings – Latin America™.
To access the complete version of the map, please, click here. (*)
Created by: Martin Juno.
(*) Please, consider that the map is presented for reference only and may contain errors or omissions of any geographic, location or rank feature.
Introduction to QS University Rankings: Latin America
By Ben Sowter
The QS World University Rankings® were recently published for the eighth consecutive year, and have become the world’s most widely referenced source of comparative information on global universities. In 2011, the world rankings featured 712 universities – a record to date, but still only a fraction of the some 20,000 higher education institutions in the world as estimated at the recent UNESCO forum on global rankings.
Following the launch of the QS Asian University Rankings™ in 2009, 2011 has seen the launch of the QS World University Rankings® by Subject, and QS Stars – a new broad-based rating system – both designed to provide more comparative intelligence on a greater number of universities.
QS recognizes that while rankings have become an increasingly important influence on the decisions facing prospective international students, they have their limitations. A single methodology cannot be adequately used to compare all universities of all types in all regions. This year’s subject rankings aim to reveal global excellence in individual disciplines – much of which is overlooked by the generalist approach taken in the world rankings. This work will be extended further in future. QS Stars reveals excellence not only in the round but in each of eight key areas; and the regional rankings in Asia and now Latin America are designed to drill down deeper beneath the fabric of higher education in some of the fastest-moving regions of the world.
QS University Rankings – Latin America™ represent an achievement which eight years ago would have been unthinkable. In 2004, when all this began, Latin America was among the most challenging regions in the world from which to identify appropriate contacts and gather the necessary data. Today things are different. Universities in the region have been very welcoming and extremely cooperative in helping us compile these results and the team at QS has been augmented with the necessary language capabilities to communicate effectively in the region. Continue Reading
2011/2012 QS Latin America University Rankings
We’ve just launched our first Latin America University Rankings. For full results including methodology, click here.
QS University Rankings: Latin America – Brazilian dominance points to future economic might
By Danny Byrne
Universities throughout Latin America are in a period of transition. Though precise circumstances vary by country, factors such as the growth in scientific research, massification of social demand for higher education, increased student mobility and the rise of private universities have exerted an influence across the region. These rankings aim to more closely reflect these circumstances than is possible in the overall QS World University Rankings®, as well as giving greater exposure to up-and-coming Latin American institutions.
The new QS methodology employs criteria that address region-specific issues, such as the proportion of faculty with a PhD, research productivity per capita and web presence. We have also drawn on by far the largest surveys of Latin American academics and employers ever conducted.
From an international perspective, a look at the top 200 provides further evidence of the emergence of Brazil as a future economic power alongside fellow BRIC nations Russia, India and China. Universidade de São Paulo (USP) tops the table, with Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais joining it in the top ten. There are an impressive eight Brazilian universities in the top 20, and 31 in the top 100.
Higher education has been earmarked as the engine-room to help Brazil fulfil its massive potential for economic growth, with enrolment tripling from two to six million in the last decade. However, the rankings also show the extent to which Brazil has prioritized research. A remarkable eight of the top ten for papers per faculty are Brazilian, alongside nine of the top ten for the proportion of academic with a PhD. Continue Reading
Use of “web metrics” to evaluate universities
There are a number of different takes on how to evaluate universities out there. The most inclusive of these seems to be to use web metrics, this is most notably applied through Webometrics Ranking Web of Universities and through the more one-dimensional 4icu.
Due to their inclusiveness, Webometrics looks at over 20,000 institutions, we frequently refer to these sources when we consider the validity of inclusion of new institutions in our lists and tables, amongst other considerations. I have some misgivings about these measures at the top of the table – asserting that MIT is stronger than Harvard because more rich files can be found on their website or because more sites link there this year seems a little academic. Also at a global level there is such an overwhelming emphasis on English – in Webometrics there are only 4 institutions in the top 50 from countries where the prevalent language is something other than English.
However, were we looking at a region where no country has an overt advantage towards English – such as Latin America, or Arabic countries the results may be more discerning. In this context, the volume of content in English could be seen as a measure of openness and international influence and since all subject institutions would have equal advantage this may have merit – particulalry in parts of the world where databases and institutional systems may not be as sophisticated as others and comprehensive data may not be available.
Next month, QS is due to publish its inaugural QS University Rankings – Latin America and we have been given unique access to Webometrics results for the region to examine whether or not they could work as an effective indicator in that context.
The current thinking is, that if we strip out the Google Scholar component, as it arguably overlaps with our analysis of SciVerse Scopus, we may have an interesting input.
Comments and input welcome.
HE News Brief 16.8.11
by Abby Chau
- RANKINGS: Publication of the Academic Ranking of World Universities
- LATIN AMERICA: Alba member states looking to harmonise higher education
- SOUTH KOREA: Auditing of institutions to ascertain whether they are fit for foreign students
- EAST AFRICA: Plans for harmonising of higher education
- LATIN AMERICA: Region increasing study abroad programmes Continue Reading
HE News Briefs 26.7.11
by Abby Chau
- CHINA: Foreign branches have increased whilst the government are trying to crack down on low quality dual degree programs
- PERU: Student protests turn violent as the government tries to negotiate with the malcontent
- UK: New league table measures the best gay-friendly institutions
- UK: The UCU releases a report on educational attainment by constituencies
Continue Reading
Too many graduates, or too few?
by Mansoor Iqbal, Education Writer
Competition for jobs may be intense, but the vital role played by graduates in economic growth and recovery means that some voices believe the world needs more, not fewer.
It has recently been reported that no less than 83 applicants apply for every graduate level role in the UK. The total number of graduate jobs is expected to rise by 2.6% in 2011, and it should be remembered that graduates can often be pretty indiscriminate when applying for a first job, but the figure is still pretty daunting. It is no wonder, then, that one proposal in the recent white paper presented to the government by the UK’s Minister for Universities, David Willetts, was that universities publish data on how many of their graduates are able to find work – this is one of the primary concerns of students in the 21st century (as reflected in the methodology of the QS World University Rankings®, which takes into account the prestige afforded to universities by graduate employers).
Graduate unemployment figures inevitably add to these concerns. While the UK is used as an example here, the problems are certainly not limited to that particular nation – graduates in countries as prosperous as the US and China are also facing stiff competition for jobs (though it should be noted that graduates are generally less likely to be unemployed that non-graduates). The almost inevitable consequence of this is voices calling for the number of students in higher education to be greatly reduced, particularly while we are still living in the shadow of the financial crisis that occurred at the end of the last decade. Continue Reading
HE News Brief 12.7.11
by Abby Chau
- NETHERLANDS: New policy changes to increase completion rates
- UNITED KINGDOM: University minister seeking international students from Brazil
- CHILE: Students force the government to invest 4 billion dollars in higher education
- SOUTH KOREA: Decreasing birthrates will stagger particpation in higher education
Continue Reading
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