LatAm schools languish on best university list

The Times Higher Education list of the world’s top universities was released last week with the top spots being dominated by schools in the U.S. and U.K. According to the British-based publication, Harvard was head of the class (pun intended) for the fifth straight year followed by Yale, Cambridge, Oxford, and Cal Tech.

Three Latin American institutes of learning made it to the list of the 200 best schools; the National Autonomous University of Mexico moved up from 192nd place last year to the 150th spot. The University of São Paulo slipped 21 places to 196th while the University of Buenos Aires made its first ever appearance on the list.

Without taking away the merit from the three aforementioned schools, it seems disconcerting that they didn’t place higher or that more Latin American schools were included. A recent World Bank publication noted that there has been improvement in the quality of Latin American universities yet they languish behind other regions:

Recent reforms of higher education in Latin America are broadly consistent with international trends. While Latin American countries appear to be on track to develop modern educational systems, they may not be moving at a fast enough pace, as high-income nations continue to advance rapidly. Latin America should not only create learning opportunities at the current rate of OECD countries but also aim at closing the gap.

Image- Vanguardia (Aerial image of the UNAM campus in Mexico City)
Sources- Times Higher Education, Guardian UK, Bloomberg, Google Books