MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean Universities rank high in Latin America

Two Chilean universities, the University of Chile (Universidad de Chile) and the Catholic University of Chile (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), ranked among the top universities in Ibero-America in a new study undertaken by SCImago Research Group.

The research firm analyzed over 600 universities in Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Cuba, and ranked them according to the amount of scientific research they produced from 1990 through 2004.

While university rankings are common, this was the first study to specially measure research undertaken in the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world, often dubbed "Ibero-America."

The University of Chile was the country's highest ranked university, coming in at number 14 in Ibero-America. Measured solely against other universities in Latin America, the University of Chile moved up to the seventh position, having produced 11,026 scientific publications during the time period studied.

The Catholic University of Chile ranked 31st and moved up to the 14th spot when judged only against universities in Latin America, producing 6,122 research articles.

Chile's University of Concepción was the third-highest ranked university in Chile, at 66 on the list, having produced 3,026 studies.

Madrid's CSIC University was ranked the top university in Ibero-America, and Brazil's University of Sao Paulo came in second. Rounding out the top ten were the University of Barcelona, the National University of Mexico, the University of Madrid, the University of Buenos Aires, Brazil's Campinas University, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain's University of Valencia, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

The University of Chile celebrated the ranking and quickly posted a news release on its website. Vice-Rector of Development Jorge Allende said, however, that the university's ranking should have been higher. "Considering the number of great professors we have, we should be near the number one position," he said.

Allende also pointed out that many of the top ten ranked universities receive contracts to perform research for other universities, thus elevating their position on the ranking. Chile's Catholic University was critical of the ranking. "The ranking only considers the total production of research, and doesn't measure quality," said the university's Vice- Rector Carlos Vio.

While Chile's universities preformed well in comparison to the 600 other universities measured in the study, the region's universities still underperformed the world's most prestigious universities in terms of the research they undertake. Every year, on behalf of the Chinese government, Shanghai's Jiao Tong University conducts an in-depth study of all research done at universities worldwide. No university in Ibero-America made it into the top 100 in the 2006 report.

The Shanghai study was dominated by American universities, with Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Cal Tech, Columbia, Princeton and Chicago all ranking in the top-10 research-producing universities in the world.

Only six non-American schools made in into the top 25 research-producing universities, including Cambridge University (2), Oxford University (10), Tokyo University (19), and the University of Toronto (24).

The University of Sao Paulo was the highest ranked Latin American university in the Shanghai study at number 144, followed by the University of Argentina at number 168. The University of Chile was ranked at number 460, and Chile's Catholic University did not make the study's top 500.

The complete SCImago study can be found online at http://www.atlasofscience.net/atlas/scriptat/rankingf_sp.asp?externo=1 and Shanghai http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2006/ARWU2006TOP500list.htm

A recent Newsweek ranking of the top "Global Universities" found similar results and can be viewed online at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/site/newsweek/.

By Nathan Crooks The Santiago Times