There is no doubt that USP is the best university in Brazil – 01/25/2024 – Education

The ways of evaluating the quality of universities around the world change a lot in today’s main university rankings. The result, however, is always the same: USP leads the country.

The São Paulo public institution reaches its 90th anniversary this Thursday (25th) at the top of the podium in different classifications. It is the best university in the latest RUF (Folha University Ranking) and the best Brazilian in Latin American rankings such as QS and global rankings such as THE (Times Higher Education).

In one of the rankings that look at universities in our surroundings, Webometrics, USP leads all of Latin America. In another, QS, the São Paulo university is second only to PUC in Chile.

In global evaluations, USP isn’t doing bad either — yes, being in the 201st–250th group of the best universities in the world in THE, today’s main university ranking, is no small feat.

Next to USP, in the same 201st–250th group, are universities of excellence such as Sussex (from the United Kingdom), Northeastern (from the USA) and Potsdam (from Germany). This type of analysis has to be done by looking at universities that are close in the ranking, and USP, we would say, is very well monitored.

The University of São Paulo was already better ranked in THE, it’s true. It reached 158th place in the world in THE 2013, a historic milestone widely reported and celebrated at the time. Lost quality? In truth no.

USP’s overall score on THE — the total sum of indicators such as the amount of scientific research produced and its academic impact — has grown in recent years. It turns out that other universities in the world gained more points faster. As a result, in comparison, the Brazilian leader loses positions.

Let me explain: in 2013, USP received an overall average score of around 50 points in THE. In the most recent edition, in which it appears in the group of 201st–250th universities in the world, it reached close to 60 points. In short: the university grade increased, but not enough. Other universities grew faster.

This is the case of the Chinese: in 2013, China had two universities among the country’s top 100 in THE: Beijing (with around 70 points) and Tsinghua (with 67 points). But he wanted to improve, and launched a State program aimed at strengthening the country’s excellent universities.

In the latest ranking, Tsinghua led the country with 92.4 points, which took her to 12th place in the world. Alongside it, there are six more Chinese universities among the 100 best in the world, including Beijing, which now has 91.8 points (14th place in the world).

To the math: while USP has risen almost 10 points in the THE ranking since 2013 (losing positions), the Chinese have gained at least double that in the same period (rising positions). This makes it difficult to compete.

USP, however, is hand in hand with excellent Chinese universities in another, more different ranking, Leiden, made by a science and technology study center at a university of the same name in the Netherlands.

In Leiden, with a focus on the impact of scientific research (there are different types of rankings), USP is in 12th place in the world, behind nine Chinese universities, Harvard (USA) and the University of Toronto (Canada).

Another type of Leiden ranking, focusing on gender diversity, takes USP to 3rd place in the world, again after Harvard and the University of Toronto. In this case, the proportion of male and female authors in publications, for example, is taken into account.

The focus on diversity, in fact, should grow in university assessments around the world. This is because it is already known that good institutions have students and teachers who are diverse in terms of gender and race, capable of looking at society in a representative way.

In this sense, USP took an important step at the age of 90 with the adoption of affirmative policies for blacks, browns and indigenous people in public competitions for teachers and civil servants (and those who are against this still do not understand that a white-only university in a country with black majority loses in everything, including quality).

And is it possible to improve USP’s position in traditional rankings? Yes, following the Chinese inspiration. Alone and closed to its own management, USP must remain the best in the country and, perhaps, achieve small advances in world university rankings, here and there.

However, a strong and joint higher education policy, state and federal, focused on making the best universities in the country even more excellent, could take USP to an even greater leap towards 100 years.

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Check USP’s position in university rankings

THE 2024 (Times Higher Education)
201st–250th in the world

ARWU 2023 (“Shanghai Ranking”)
101st–150th in the world

Leiden 2023 (scientific impact ranking)
12th in the world

QS 2024 Latin America
2nd in Latin America

Webometrics 2023 Latin America
1st in Latin America

RUF – Folha University Ranking 2023
1st in Brazil