Ricardo Braginski
08/25/2021 7:00
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 08/25/2021 9:04 AM
The University of Buenos Aires once again stood out in an international ranking. In this case, in the
Latin American QS
. For the fifth year in a row, he
ranked eighth
. Of the 416 selected universities, 43 are Argentine.
Most of them (30) are public
, but only the UBA - which has just celebrated its Bicentennial - is among the top ten. The study authors warned, however, about the
scarce research
in Argentine universities.
After the UBA -and among the first 50-, the National University of La Plata (position 21), the Austral University (26), the National University of Córdoba (35), the Di Tella (36) and the UCA (43) appear. .
If the general performance of Argentine universities is compared with respect to last year, 11 decreased positions, 10 improved, 21 remained the same and a new one (the CEMA university) was added.
The first place in the regional ranking was held by the
Catholic University of Chile
, followed by São Paulo, the University of Chile and the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Among the top ten there are three Brazilians;
Mexico, Chile and Colombia have two;
and Argentina only the UBA.
Among the parameters that the British consulting firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) takes into account for this ranking, the UBA stands out in two, in which it obtains
an almost ideal score
. They are
academic reputation
(2nd place regionally) and
employer reputation
(4th place). The first assesses the perceptions of scholars from around the world on research, and the second measures the views of employers in the region about professionals emerging from universities.
“This result is the recognition of the students, research teams, teaching and non-teaching staff who with their work build and cement the best public university in the country every day.
This new publication invites us to continue betting on and for education and for this,
strong support and investment
is imperative
.
It is necessary to be clear that it will be education, science and technology that will mark the way for us in this world context ”, said Alberto Barbieri, rector of the UBA.
The rector of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Alberto Barbieri.
EFE
The University of Buenos Aires had this year ranked 69th globally and first in Latin America in the QS ranking worldwide.
Why is it now eighth regionally?
Clarín
asked Jack Moran, from QS, who said that it is because the rankings made by that consultancy -the global and the Latin American-
use different methodologies
.
He explained that the indicators chosen to measure Latin American universities are designed to better understand the reality of the region.
Among these indicators are the ratio of teachers / students, citations per teacher (in academic papers), the ratio of students and international teachers;
in addition to the already mentioned academic and employer reputation.
The results show that, as a whole, Argentine universities
are strong in teacher / student ratio
, where the UCA obtains its best result.
But
lazy in research production
.
The UCA, now with hybrid classes.
“Argentina's research continues to lag
behind that of its continental competitors
: this is a major concern, because most of the Latin American universities evaluated by QS are already rated as having
“ medium ”or“ low ”research intensity at global level
, says Jack Moran.
“The Argentine authorities must continue to develop strategies to create the conditions - especially in terms of
investment, commitment to the industry and human capital
- that allow their universities to be more intensive in research and make greater contributions to academic research. The recent announcement by Martín Guzmán to increase the stipends of Conicet scholarships by 30% is precisely the type of measure necessary to promote the best academic talent in Argentina ”, he added.
The Austral University was the first in the country in the ranking among the private ones and the only one in the "Top Five" that grew from last year to this.
Its rector, Julián Rodríguez, told
Clarín
that the result “shows that Austral has experienced the context of the pandemic as
an opportunity for transformation and improvement
.
We seek to maintain closeness and support with our students and the faculty responded with enthusiasm in adapting to the
hybrid and HyFlex modalities
that were launched ”, he stated.
The UCA also moved up boxes in one year, from 45th to 43rd. Today it ranks sixth in the country.
It showed an advance in the teaching indicators with a doctorate and citations for papers.
“This year we increased the number of UCA-Conicet co-financed scholarships, which results in a great search movement for young people close to graduating with an
interest in teaching and research
. In this way, the number of scholarship holders per researcher is also optimized, the number of publications is increased and the teaching-research symbiosis is strengthened ”, says María Clara Zamora, vice-rector for Research and Academic Innovation at the UCA.
The QS ranking, in its global and Latin American version, is one of the four most observed internationally. It is, among all of them, the one that assigns the most weight to parameters
based on the perception of the respondents
, both academics, researchers or employers from all over the world. Other relevant rankings are the Shanghai (from China) and the CWUR (from Saudi Arabia), which value scientific research and published papers more highly.
