Brazil has 65 of the top 200 higher education institutions in Latin America, including the highest-ranked university, according to the first set of rankings of the region’s higher education institutes.
Five countries house the overwhelming majority of Latin America’s leading universities. Mexico posted 35 universities in the top 200; Argentina and Chile have 25 each, and Colombia 21.
The QS University Rankings Latin America, published earlier this month, ranked the University of Sao Paulo (Universidade de Sao Paulo) as the region’s best. The rankings put three Brazilian institutions in the top 10 and eight in the top 20. Mexico and Chile have two universities each in the top 10.
According to QS figures, enrolment at universities in Brazil’s higher education institutes has tripled from two to six million in the past decade.
Ben Sowter, head of the QS intelligence unit based in London, says: “The commitment to higher education in Brazil has strengthened dramatically over the past 10 years. This is reflected in the rankings.”