Colombia’s universities are the third best in Latin America, trailing only Brazil and Mexico’s, according to the 2014 QS Latin America University Rankings, released Wednesday.
Colombia’s top universities
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With a total of 41 universities in the top 300, Colombia ranks ahead of perhaps more recognized countries like Argentina and Chile, which came in at fourth and fifth place, respectively.
The rankings are calculated based on seven indicators, including academic reputation, student satisfaction, student-teacher ratios, the impact of research, and professors’ levels of qualification.
The University of the Andes was the top-ranked in Colombia and fifth overall in Latin America, reported Caracol Radio. The Bogota-based university has consistently placed within Latin America’s top 10 since QS began releasing its annual reports in 2011.
MORE: Universidad de los Andes is Colombia’s best university: QS
National University, which recently announced a series of global partnerships with varies of prestigious scientific institutes, came in not far behind, at #14, while the University of Antioquia, Javerian and the University of Rosario were also in the top 50.
MORE: Colombian academia attracts foreign partnerships
“Colombia represents an atypical scenario” commented QS Head of Research, Ben Sowter. “The country’s leading universities struggle to maintain the excellent performance of previous years, while several institutions located below the Top 100 are improving their position.”
Colombia’s public universities have been particularly troubled in recent years. Despite rising costs and increased enrollment, the public university system is operating at an over $5 billion budget deficit.
Student groups have launched a number of national protests in recent years, including one in 2012 that defeated a proposed education reform that would have allowed private funding to enter the public university system.
Sowter, however, believes that the present situation — in which the country’s middle-ranked schools are gaining ground on their traditionally more distinguished counterparts — could mean a more dynamic higher education sector in Colombia.
Sources
- Los Andes, la quinta mejor universidad de América Latina (Caracol Radio
- QS Latin American University Rankings 2014 (QS)