UNLP lost more than fifty places in a world ranking of universities

Behind the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and in front of the National University of Córdoba (UNC), the National University of La Plata (UNLP) remains among the thousand best high-school houses in the world, according to the payroll published yesterday by the Center for the World Ranking of Universities (CWUR), based in the United Arab Emirates. However, the results have a sweet and sour taste for Argentinean academic institutions: they have all lost their positions compared to last year's measure.

UBA, which remains the best in the country and the third best in the region, has grown from 293rd in the world to 344th. In Latin America, it is surpbaded only by that of San Pablo (Brazil) – in 128th place – and by the UNAM of Mexico, which is in the 262nd.

The UNLP, meanwhile, was placed at stage 596, fifty-one fewer places than at the last measurement, when it was located at 545º. Then he had achieved a significant improvement over 2017, climbing 180 places in the world rankings. At the regional level, the UNLP continues to be ranked 12th.

For its part, the UNC rose from 762º to 854º; in Latin America, it is located in the 19th.

When badyzing the local fall, the secretary general of the UNLP felt that it was "normal movements". Well, he added, "from one year to the next, there may be little significant variation, but if we look at longer historical series, the observable trend is sustained growth in our university and the strength of the public university of our country ". .

Lorente pointed out that "these days, other rankings were known, such as that of the prestigious Nature magazine and the university grew 15.9% over last year. The ranking of the National Council of Scientific Research of Spain has also been published and our university has ratified the second position in Argentina and the 510 position in the world among more than 28,000 universities ".

Indeed, there are countless academic rankings and each follows a certain measure. For example, the UK consulting firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) – which places UNLP in the world's 591-600 band and 26th in the region – takes into account issues such as academic reputation, relationship between the number of students and the number of teachers. The CWUR, meanwhile, focuses on the international awards and honors received by students and researchers, the quality of education, the publication of scientific articles and the number of citations from scientific publications of the University, among other parameters.

According to these characteristics, the CWUR World Podium was for the United States: Harvard was in the top spot for the eighth consecutive year, followed by the Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology and Standford University. Cambridge, Oxford, Columbia, Princeton, California, Pennsylvania and Chicago complete the top 10.

In Latin America, after San Pablo, UNAM and UBA, the ten best places are distributed among the universities of Brazil (federal of Rio de Janeiro, Campinas, Paulista, Minas de Gerais and Rio Grande de Sul) and Chile (Catholic University and University of Chile).

Much lower, in the top 2000, are other Argentine institutions: the University of Rosario (1298), Mar del Plata (1342), Cuyo (1423), Litoral (1450), Comahue (1570) , del Sur (1578), Tucumán (1746) and Río Cuarto (1997).

"This is a worrying moment for Argentinian institutions in full global competition. Funding for higher education is crucial if the government aspires for its universities to compete on the world stage, "CWUR President Nadim Mahbaden told reporters.

For the Secretary-General of UNLP, "such a small variation in a single year does not indicate a trend", even though he felt that "the budget issue is an important condition". "Our university has a number of students similar to that of the University of San Pablo," he explained, "but we have a budget five times lower, but the UNLP in particular and the Argentine public university in general are in equal competition with universities with incomparably larger budgets. "In this sense, he predicted that" as long as it will be the budget distance , Brazil will continue to lead academic and scientific development in the region ".

Scientific production

UNLP is also included in the Nature Index, which ranks the Plata House of Studies among the top 15 in the region for its contributions to the world's leading scientific journals. The Latin American ranking, consisting of a total of 252 organizations, is led by the University of San Pablo (Brazil), followed by the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet) and the University of San Pablo (Brazil). University of Campinhas (Brazil). At the national level, the UNLP ranks 3rd, behind Conicet and UBA.

At the global level, they run the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Harvard University of the United States and Max Planck Institute of Germany.

It should be noted that the local University recorded an improvement of 15.9% compared to the previous measure of the Nature Index, based on contributions to research articles published in 82 scientific journals.