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#1 - Posted 6 October 2011, 3:41 PM
Atabey
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Top Central America & Caribe Universities 1 to 100 Where does DR Rank?
Universities in Latin America: The struggle to make the grade

If only more of the region’s higher-education institutions were like the University of São Paulo



Oct 8th 2011 | SÃO PAULO | from the print edition

LATIN AMERICA boasts some giant universities and a few venerable ones: the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) enroll several hundred thousand students apiece, while Lima’s San Marcos was founded in 1551. Even so, the region is hardly synonymous with excellence in higher education. Research output is unimpressive, teaching techniques are old-fashioned and students drop out in droves. These failings matter. Faster economic growth is driving a big rise in demand for higher education in the region and a large crop of new universities. Now, at last, comes an effort to assess the quality of Latin American higher education.


On October 4th Quacquarelli Symonds, an education consultancy, published the first regional ranking of Latin American universities, combining measures of reputation, research output, academics’ qualifications and staff-student ratios.


Of the 200 top universities, 65 are in Brazil, 35 in Mexico, 25 apiece in Argentina and Chile and 20 in Colombia (see table for the top ten). The University of São Paulo (USP), the richest and biggest university in Brazil’s richest state, came top.

This week USP won another plaudit, becoming the only Latin American university to make it into the world’s top 200 universities in another much-watched list, published by Times Higher Education, a British specialist weekly. USP ranked 178th this year (up from 232nd last year). Founded and supported by the government of São Paulo state, USP’s climb up the rankings has been helped by a big increase in private funding and in international collaborations and recognition. It also led the Latin American contingent in another list, this time compiled by Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University and released in August, ranking in the cluster between 101st and 150th. This list focuses on scientific research; USP is becoming a world leader in tropical medicine, parasitology and biofuels.

Nowhere else in Latin America can match USP. The other leaders in the region are a mix of old-established public universities (the University of Chile, for example), Catholic institutions or secular non-profit places such as Bogotá’s University of the Andes and Monterrey’s Tecnológico.

University rankings miss hard-to-measure factors such as the quality of teaching and the campus atmosphere. They are biased towards bigger universities, which tend to be better known and to produce more research. (This may have helped Argentina’s UBA, whose glory days are in the past.) But what they do capture matters. In their different ways they try to identify beacons of excellence and innovation. When they agree, as with USP’s regional pre-eminence, it is worth taking note.

These regional rankings might also break down the insularity that has long been a mark of Latin American academia. “Across the region, good students are recruited to faculty at their own universities, rather than encouraged to leave and broaden their horizons,” says Jamil Salmi, a higher-education specialist at the World Bank. “And there’s a hostility to the very notion you might hire faculty from abroad.”

At many Latin American public universities students pay nothing, staff are unsackable, and the curriculum is old-fashioned and politicised. Good teaching and research are not rewarded with extra funding or promotions; institutions do not lose money if their students drop out. Except in Brazil many faculty members are part-timers without PhDs.

In the past three decades, governments have accepted a huge expansion of private provision, much of it by for-profit outfits. That has allowed them to expand higher education quickly without spending more, but before they decided what made a good university, says Francisco Marmolejo, a Mexican consultant on university administration. The result is that mechanisms to ensure quality are weak or nonexistent. Poor youngsters who attend the mainly awful state schools usually end up in these places, paying through the nose.

No country in the region has worked out satisfactorily how to share the cost of degrees between students and taxpayers. Chile’s government is currently suffering the consequences. Months of student protests against the exorbitant cost of for-profit universities have seen the popularity of the president, Sebastián Piñera, plunge. The country’s education system, from primary school to university, is probably the region’s best. But Chile also has one of world’s lowest levels of public funding for higher education, some of the longest degrees and no comprehensive system of student grants or subsidised loans. When a flat jobs market was added to this mix, it became combustible.

In Venezuela Hugo Chávez’s government has expanded higher education by forcing existing universities to accept a massive increase in student numbers, and by setting-up a giant new open-access state institution, the “Bolivarian University”. This is supposed eventually to have around 200 campuses. The result, says Mr Marmolejo, is a “time-bomb”. “Unprepared institutions; non-existent infrastructure; 300 students in classrooms that used to hold 15. You end up with a system where hundreds of thousands of people have degrees that are totally worthless.”

If Latin America’s universities are to flourish their governance must be reformed, says Philip Altbach, director of the Centre for International Higher Education at Boston College in the United States. “In most countries the flagship public universities are simply too big to be managed,” he says. Creating a world-class modern university needs flexibility in hiring, promotion and pay rather than the rigid rules that are traditional in the region.

Stronger mechanisms to ensure quality and more equitable student financing would also make a big difference, says Andreas Schleicher of the OECD, an organisation of mainly rich countries. He is optimistic that USP’s growing pre-eminence could show the way for the entire region. “No one in the United States tries to figure out what a great university is; they just look at the Ivy League,” he says. “It’s very important to have great institutions: they define success.”
Edited on 1/8/2012 6:40 PM by Atabey.

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#2 - Posted 6 October 2011, 3:54 PM
Atabey
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RE: Universities in Latin America The struggle to make the grade
Where is DR ranked? No where in the top 200!!

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/latin-american-university-rankings/2011
Rank Name Country Size Focus Research Age Score

1 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil XL FC VH 4 100.0
2 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Chile L FC HI 5 99.6
3 Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) Brazil L FC VH 3 94.7
4 Universidad de Chile Chile L FC HI 5 94.0
5 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico XL FC VH 5 92.1
6 Universidad de los Andes Colombia L FC MD 4 84.7
7 Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) Mexico L FC MD 4 83.0
8 Universidad de Buenos Aires Argentina XL FC HI 5 82.1
9 Universidad Nacional de Colombia Colombia XL FC MD 5 79.5
10 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Brazil XL FC HI 5 79.1
11 Universidade de Brasilia Brazil XL FC HI 3 78.2
12 Universidad de Concepción Chile L FC HI 4 75.5
13 Universidad Austral Argentina S FO HI 2 75.3
14 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Do Sul (UFRGS) Brazil L FC VH 5 75.2
15 Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro Brazil L CO HI 4 73.5
16 Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" (UNESP) Brazil XL FC VH 3 72.6
17 Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC - Rio) Argentina L FC LO 4 72.2
18 Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Argentina XL FO HI 5 71.6
19 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Brazil XL FC VH 4 70.1
20 Universidad Nacional de la Plata Argentina XL FC HI 5 69.2
21 Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) Chile L FC MD 5 68.9
22 Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) Mexico XL FO VH 4 68.4
23 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Colombia L FC MD 5 63.5
24 Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) Mexico M FC MD 4 63.2
25 Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) Mexico XL FC MD 3 62.6
26 Universidad Torcuato Di Tella Argentina S SP LO 2 62.5
27 Universidad de Antioquia Colombia XL FC MD 5 62.0
28 Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul Brazil M FC HI 4 61.1
29 Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) Mexico S FO HI 4 60.7
30 Universidad Austral de Chile Chile M FC HI 59.9
31 Universidade Federal de São Paulo Brazil M FC VH 4 59.6
32 Universidad Simón Bolívar Venezuela M FO VH 59.3
33 Universidade Federal do Pernambuco Brazil L FC HI 4 58.8
34 Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Peru L FO MD 4 58.0
35 Universidade Federal de São Carlos Brazil L FC HI 3 56.0
36 Universidad Nacional de Rosario Argentina XL FC MD 3 56.0
37 Pontificia Universidade Católica de São Paulo Brazil L FC LO 4 55.7
38 Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) Brazil L FC HI 5 55.1
39 Universidad de Palermo Argentina L FO LO 3 54.8
40 Universidad de Mar del Plata Argentina L CO HI 3 54.8
41 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso Chile L FC MD 4 54.1
42 Universidade Federal da Bahia Brazil L FO VH 4 53.2
43 Universidad de los Andes Mérida Venezuela XL FC MD 5 51.6
44 Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria Chile L CO MD 4 51.3
45 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Brazil L FC LO 4 50.7
46 Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) Mexico S FC MD 4 50.5
47 Universidad de la Habana Cuba XL CO MD 5 49.9
48 Universidad de San Andrés Argentina S SP LO 2 49.8
49 Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos Peru L FC LO 49.5
50 Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA) Argentina S CO MD 4 49.2
51 Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG) Mexico XL FC MD 5 49.1
52 Universidad Central de Venezuela Venezuela XL FC MD 5 49.1
53 Universidad de Puerto Rico Puerto Rico XL FC HI 5 48.1
54 Universidad del Valle Colombia L FC MD 4 48.1
55 Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) Brazil L FO VH 4 47.7
56 Universidad Nacional de Tucumán Argentina XL FC MD 4 47.5
57 Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) Mexico XL FC MD 4 46.2
58 Universidad Nacional del Cuyo Mendoza Argentina XL FO MD 4 45.7
59= Universidad de Costa Rica Costa Rica XL CO MD 4 45.5
59= Universidade Federal de Viçosa Brazil L FC HI 4 45.5
61 Universidade Estadual de Londrina Brazil M FC HI 3 44.9
62 Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario Colombia L FO MD 5 44.9
63 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México Mexico XL FC LO 5 44.3
64 Universidad Nacional de San Luis Argentina M CO HI 3 43.9
65 Universidad Nacional del Sur Argentina L FC MD 4 43.7
66 Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN) Argentina XL SP LO 4 43.1
67 Universidad Adolfo Ibanez Chile M FO MD 4 42.8
68 Universidad del Salvador Argentina L SP LO 4 42.3
69 Universidade Federal de Pelotas Brazil M FC HI 3 42.1
70 Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla Mexico XL FC MD 5 42.1
71 Universidad del Talca Chile M FO HI 3 41.9
72 Universidade Federal Fluminense Brazil XL FC MD 4 40.8
73 Universidad de la Frontera (UFRO) Chile M FC MD 3 40.2
74 Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB) Chile XL FC LO 2 40.2
75 Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Peru S FO VH 4 40.0
76 Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) Brazil L FC HI 4 39.5
77 Universidad del Norte Colombia M FC LO 3 39.4
78 Universidad Autonoma de San Luis de Potosi Mexico L FC MD 4 39.4
79 Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador Ecuador M FC LO 4 38.8
80 Universidad Nacional del Litoral Argentina XL FC MD 4 37.5
81 Universidade Federal de Santa Maria Brazil M FC HI 4 37.0
82 Universidade Estadual de Maringá Brazil L FC MD 3 36.8
83 Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Brazil L FC MD 3 36.6
84 Universidad de los Andes Chile M FC LO 2 36.5
85 Universidad de Valparaíso Chile L FC MD 3 36.5
86 Colegio de México Mexico S FO MD 4 35.4
87 Universidad Industrial de Santander Colombia L FC MD 4 35.1
88 Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro Brazil S FC HI 2 34.6
89 Universidad Mayor de San Andrés Bolivia XL FC LO 5 34.2
90 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos Mexico M FC MD 3 34.1
91 Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto Argentina L CO MD 3 34.0
92 Universidad de Guanajuato Mexico L FO HI 4 33.4
93 Pontificia Universidade Católica do Paraná Brazil M FC MD 4 33.3
94 Universidad de La Republica Uruguay XL FC MD 5 33.2
95 Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora Brazil M FC MD 4 33.1
96 Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina Brazil M CO MD 3 32.5
97 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Do Norte Brazil L FC MD 4 32.4
98 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Brazil M FO HI 3 32.3
99 Universidad Catolica Andres Bello Venezuela S FO LO 4 32.2
100 Universidad Diego Portales Chile L FC LO 3 31.8
101-200 Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral Ecuador M FO MD 4
101-200 Fundación Universidad De Bogota-Jorge Tadeo Lozano Colombia M FO MD

To find out more about our classifications, visit the QS IU website

Data for Web Impact Indicator compiled by Cybermetrics Lab (July 2011). Ranking Web of Universities. www.webometrics.info
Edited on 10/6/2011 4:01 PM by Atabey.

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#3 - Posted 6 October 2011, 4:40 PM
abc200
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RE: Universities in Latin America The struggle to make the grade
Given the great distances distance learning would often be better.
Its much cheaper to provide and quality can be controlled.
It can be shared between countries.


http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/
Actually South America doesn't need rocket scientists or more middle class lawyers.

http://www8.open.ac.uk/study/explained/how-to-apply/what-you-can-expect-to-pay

S.



Quote:
Atabey previously said:

Where is DR ranked? No where in the top 200!!

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/latin-american-university-rankings/2011
Rank Name Country Size Focus Research Age Score

1 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil XL FC VH 4 100.0
2 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Chile L FC HI 5 99.6
3 Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) Brazil L FC VH 3 94.7
4 Universidad de Chile Chile L FC HI 5 94.0
5 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico XL FC VH 5 92.1
6 Universidad de los Andes Colombia L FC MD 4 84.7
7 Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) Mexico L FC MD 4 83.0
8 Universidad de Buenos Aires Argentina XL FC HI 5 82.1
9 Universidad Nacional de Colombia Colombia XL FC MD 5 79.5
10 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Brazil XL FC HI 5 79.1
11 Universidade de Brasilia Brazil XL FC HI 3 78.2
12 Universidad de Concepción Chile L FC HI 4 75.5
13 Universidad Austral Argentina S FO HI 2 75.3
14 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Do Sul (UFRGS) Brazil L FC VH 5 75.2
15 Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro Brazil L CO HI 4 73.5
16 Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" (UNESP) Brazil XL FC VH 3 72.6
17 Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC - Rio) Argentina L FC LO 4 72.2
18 Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Argentina XL FO HI 5 71.6
19 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Brazil XL FC VH 4 70.1
20 Universidad Nacional de la Plata Argentina XL FC HI 5 69.2
21 Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) Chile L FC MD 5 68.9
22 Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) Mexico XL FO VH 4 68.4
23 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Colombia L FC MD 5 63.5
24 Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) Mexico M FC MD 4 63.2
25 Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) Mexico XL FC MD 3 62.6
26 Universidad Torcuato Di Tella Argentina S SP LO 2 62.5
27 Universidad de Antioquia Colombia XL FC MD 5 62.0
28 Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul Brazil M FC HI 4 61.1
29 Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) Mexico S FO HI 4 60.7
30 Universidad Austral de Chile Chile M FC HI 59.9
31 Universidade Federal de São Paulo Brazil M FC VH 4 59.6
32 Universidad Simón Bolívar Venezuela M FO VH 59.3
33 Universidade Federal do Pernambuco Brazil L FC HI 4 58.8
34 Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Peru L FO MD 4 58.0
35 Universidade Federal de São Carlos Brazil L FC HI 3 56.0
36 Universidad Nacional de Rosario Argentina XL FC MD 3 56.0
37 Pontificia Universidade Católica de São Paulo Brazil L FC LO 4 55.7
38 Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) Brazil L FC HI 5 55.1
39 Universidad de Palermo Argentina L FO LO 3 54.8
40 Universidad de Mar del Plata Argentina L CO HI 3 54.8
41 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso Chile L FC MD 4 54.1
42 Universidade Federal da Bahia Brazil L FO VH 4 53.2
43 Universidad de los Andes Mérida Venezuela XL FC MD 5 51.6
44 Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria Chile L CO MD 4 51.3
45 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Brazil L FC LO 4 50.7
46 Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) Mexico S FC MD 4 50.5
47 Universidad de la Habana Cuba XL CO MD 5 49.9
48 Universidad de San Andrés Argentina S SP LO 2 49.8
49 Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos Peru L FC LO 49.5
50 Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA) Argentina S CO MD 4 49.2
51 Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG) Mexico XL FC MD 5 49.1
52 Universidad Central de Venezuela Venezuela XL FC MD 5 49.1
53 Universidad de Puerto Rico Puerto Rico XL FC HI 5 48.1
54 Universidad del Valle Colombia L FC MD 4 48.1
55 Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) Brazil L FO VH 4 47.7
56 Universidad Nacional de Tucumán Argentina XL FC MD 4 47.5
57 Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) Mexico XL FC MD 4 46.2
58 Universidad Nacional del Cuyo Mendoza Argentina XL FO MD 4 45.7
59= Universidad de Costa Rica Costa Rica XL CO MD 4 45.5
59= Universidade Federal de Viçosa Brazil L FC HI 4 45.5
61 Universidade Estadual de Londrina Brazil M FC HI 3 44.9
62 Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario Colombia L FO MD 5 44.9
63 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México Mexico XL FC LO 5 44.3
64 Universidad Nacional de San Luis Argentina M CO HI 3 43.9
65 Universidad Nacional del Sur Argentina L FC MD 4 43.7
66 Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN) Argentina XL SP LO 4 43.1
67 Universidad Adolfo Ibanez Chile M FO MD 4 42.8
68 Universidad del Salvador Argentina L SP LO 4 42.3
69 Universidade Federal de Pelotas Brazil M FC HI 3 42.1
70 Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla Mexico XL FC MD 5 42.1
71 Universidad del Talca Chile M FO HI 3 41.9
72 Universidade Federal Fluminense Brazil XL FC MD 4 40.8
73 Universidad de la Frontera (UFRO) Chile M FC MD 3 40.2
74 Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB) Chile XL FC LO 2 40.2
75 Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Peru S FO VH 4 40.0
76 Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) Brazil L FC HI 4 39.5
77 Universidad del Norte Colombia M FC LO 3 39.4
78 Universidad Autonoma de San Luis de Potosi Mexico L FC MD 4 39.4
79 Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador Ecuador M FC LO 4 38.8
80 Universidad Nacional del Litoral Argentina XL FC MD 4 37.5
81 Universidade Federal de Santa Maria Brazil M FC HI 4 37.0
82 Universidade Estadual de Maringá Brazil L FC MD 3 36.8
83 Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Brazil L FC MD 3 36.6
84 Universidad de los Andes Chile M FC LO 2 36.5
85 Universidad de Valparaíso Chile L FC MD 3 36.5
86 Colegio de México Mexico S FO MD 4 35.4
87 Universidad Industrial de Santander Colombia L FC MD 4 35.1
88 Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro Brazil S FC HI 2 34.6
89 Universidad Mayor de San Andrés Bolivia XL FC LO 5 34.2
90 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos Mexico M FC MD 3 34.1
91 Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto Argentina L CO MD 3 34.0
92 Universidad de Guanajuato Mexico L FO HI 4 33.4
93 Pontificia Universidade Católica do Paraná Brazil M FC MD 4 33.3
94 Universidad de La Republica Uruguay XL FC MD 5 33.2
95 Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora Brazil M FC MD 4 33.1
96 Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina Brazil M CO MD 3 32.5
97 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Do Norte Brazil L FC MD 4 32.4
98 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Brazil M FO HI 3 32.3
99 Universidad Catolica Andres Bello Venezuela S FO LO 4 32.2
100 Universidad Diego Portales Chile L FC LO 3 31.8
101-200 Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral Ecuador M FO MD 4
101-200 Fundación Universidad De Bogota-Jorge Tadeo Lozano Colombia M FO MD

To find out more about our classifications, visit the QS IU website

Data for Web Impact Indicator compiled by Cybermetrics Lab (July 2011). Ranking Web of Universities. www.webometrics.info


Edited on 10/6/2011 4:51 PM by abc200.
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#4 - Posted 6 October 2011, 7:43 PM
Atabey
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RE: Universities in Latin America The struggle to make the grade
Besides the abysmal DR results, it's interesting to note how few Higher level institutions are located in Cuba! One would think that with a national commitment that allocates a significant amount of resources to education, they would have more institutions and better ranked ones too.

Brazil is the star and Chile and Colombia are well represented. For the DR the country to observe is Costa Rica. Similar in physical size with half the population, but far better managed and governed than the DR.
Edited on 10/6/2011 7:44 PM by Atabey.

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#5 - Posted 6 October 2011, 7:56 PM
dreadlocks
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RE: Universities in Latin America The struggle to make the grade
maybe the Cuban institutions were not addressed, because of political reasons. i find it difficult to accept that not a single Cuban University made it to the top 200.
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#6 - Posted 6 October 2011, 8:08 PM
Atabey
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RE: Universities in Latin America The struggle to make the grade
Quote:
dreadlocks previously said:

maybe the Cuban institutions were not addressed, because of political reasons. i find it difficult to accept that not a single Cuban University made it to the top 200.



Dready,

The University of Havana ranked 47th!!
Edited on 1/8/2012 6:34 PM by Atabey.

"If you want to sleep well at night, it's best to avoid watching the making of sausages or politics." Otto Von Bismarck
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#7 - Posted 7 October 2011, 2:46 AM
abc200
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RE: Universities in Latin America The struggle to make the grade
Quote:
Atabey previously said:

Quote:
dreadlocks previously said:

maybe the Cuban institutions were not addressed, because of political reasons. i find it difficult to accept that not a single Cuban University made it to the top 200.



Dready,

The University of Havana ranked 49th!!

Having been in the business of writing papers for publication and have seen universities are 'scored ' I can comment.:

Unless the university is well funded it won't be able to do research in many fields. Not only equipment but auxiliary staff are necessary also attending conferences, mainly expensive, in the specialty.
Universities are scored on published papers, indexes such as the citation index, retaining top experts etc.
The courses many universities offer may be taught well and and be very appropriate to the country/community they serve but unless they are doing research in a reasonably wide range of specialities and the staff are publishing there is no chance of a high position in the league table.
In addition papers in many field are selected by exclusive 'clubs' of experts who are attached to existing leading institutions and they want to line their own nests by giving preference to publishing work by their own research students.
In richer countries leading institutions get large amounts of research money from the government - most of this money is spent in the medical area on the diseases of rich countries. I once reviewed the research activity of a department of a leading British University. About 90 % addressed the problems of rich countries and commercial enterprises.
Many papers are published by these rich universities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johns_Hopkins_Medical_School

So it is unrealistic to expect say a medical school in Cuba or Brazil to score sufficient points to move up the league
table.

If universities in minor countries do research it will may well not be on subjects that receive the acclaim of being published in leading Western journals. More likely intermediate technology etc. and addressing practical problems of the community

S.




Edited on 10/7/2011 10:01 AM by abc200.
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#8 - Posted 7 October 2011, 10:03 AM
Atabey
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RE: Universities in Latin America The struggle to make the grade
ABC,

Brazil scored well on the measures and based on the survey dominates the University rankings of Latin America. Cuba scored poorly with only the University of Havana in the top 200! Perhaps Cuban schools do a good job of K-12 education, but are poor internationally speaking with their peers at the higher end levels of academia. But do remember that BEFORE THE REVOLUTION OF 1959, Cuba had the top ranked University in its region. There were no Latin American University rankings back then, that I have knowledge of so comparing institutions would be a very difficult proposition. Still, it does say something when a country allegedly spending soooooo much on education and produces these poor results.

DR needs to extend its connections with higher level institutions across the first world, with the USA, Canada and Europe beginning the prime areas of interest and funding. But as always the Achilles heel is the dismal K-12 educational achievement pipe-line. When DR fixes that pipe-line and develops better cross-country institutional connections and funding, then the higher end institutions will rise in both quality and professional achievement. Hope to see that happening soon in DR.
Edited on 10/19/2011 10:38 AM by Atabey.

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#9 - Posted 7 October 2011, 10:28 AM
abc200
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RE: Universities in Latin America The struggle to make the grade
Quote:
Atabey previously said:

ABC,

Brazil scored well on the measures and based on the survey dominates the University rankings of Latin America. Cuba scored poorly with only the University of Havana in the top 200! Perhaps Cuban schools do a good job of K-12 education, but are poor internationally speaking with their peers at the higher end levels of academia. But do remember that BEFORE THE REVOLUTION OF 1959, Cuba had the top raked University in its region. There were no Latin American University rankings back then, that I have acknowledge of so comparing institutions would be a very difficult proposition. Still, it does say something when a country allegedly spends soooooo much on education and produces these poor results.

DR needs to extend its connections with higher level institutions across the first world, with the USA, Canada and Europe beginning the prime areas of interest and funding. But as always the Achilles heel is the dismal K-12 educational achievement pipe-line. When DR fixes that pipe-line and develops better cross-country institutional connections and funding, then the higher end institutions will rise in both quality and professional achievement. Hope to see that happening soon in DR.



I'm not sure - research is an expensive business in many fields and poorer governments many not feel like funding electron microscopes for their biology departments, sophisticated telescopes for astronomy etc etc.

Cuba has little priority on research - it has chose to educate for nearly free many to be doctors in poor countries.

Higher education is also divided among many regional and specialist institutions - , none of which on their own can be expected to sore highly.

Universities high up the table of excellence in the UK such as Oxford and Cambridge score highly on research. However it is more mundane institutions such as The Open University with 150,000 students that really contribute to raising skill levels of teachers, engineers etc. etc. at relatively low cost.

This activity does not score well for league tables since it is not centered on elitist research and funded accordingly.

Personally I see little need for the UK or other nations to fund cosmology to a great extent when there are practical ecological, health, social problems to be worked on.

It also may be a mistake for the DR to fund higher education such that more graduates are produced and these on qualifying emigrate and work for higher rewards in other countries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15044093

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Post IP/Country: 190.167.153.6* / DO
#10 - Posted 11 October 2011, 7:10 PM
Atabey
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UASD in the spotlight since a professional student has spent 21 years "studying" medicine :!:
Professional students get to stay on in UASD

The rector of the UASD, Mateo Aquino Febrillet has set his conditions for expelling students with poor academic scores, as reported in El Caribe. The UASD has been in the spotlight since a professional student who has spent 21 years "studying" medicine at the university was elected leader of a prominent student union.

Rector Mateo Aquino Febrillet said he would implement the university rulings for minimum yield requirements once the government has provided the funds for sufficient teachers and classrooms to improve the academic standards at the university.

Meanwhile, Minister of Higher Education Ligia Amada Melo believes the UASD should do more in the name of quality education. She said that the UASD needed to find strategies to accelerate the graduation process. El Caribe reported yesterday that at present, the UASD is registering 33,000 every year but only 7,000 are graduating.

She said she requested permission to participate in the next university council meeting. Melo also recommended adding a year to the pre-established period for each degree, that is four to six years, but that this should not be extended. She recommended carrying out a study to establish which students are working and which are not, and making any delays in the second group graduating the UASD's responsibility, as reported in El Caribe.

She suggested that the university should not allow registration of students who have demonstrated they are not interested in studying, and improving conditions for students who have proved they do want to study.

"If you want to sleep well at night, it's best to avoid watching the making of sausages or politics." Otto Von Bismarck
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