Academics consider the Autonomous University of México (UNAM) to be the best university in Latin America, giving it a score of 94.6% on the QS World University Rankings. On the final multivariate list it held its place as the second best institution in the region.

Employers also gave UNAM a positive review, putting it in the world’s top 50 with a 93.2% score.

The final list placed the Mexico City university as the 105th best globally; a five place drop after entering the top 100 last year.

The second-highest Mexican university to rank was the private university Tec de Monterrey, at 161st; the fifth highest in Latin America.

In total, 24 Mexican universities appear on the rankings. In Latin America only Brazil has a greater number of universities within the ranking.

QS’s list ranks the top universities in the world based on criteria such as academic reputation, reputation among employers, citations from research papers, the professor-student ratio and the ratios of international students and professors.

Ben Sowter, director of research at QS, confirmed UNAM’s strong reputation. “The latest edition of QS World University Rankings shows us that UNAM is comfortably among the Latin American elite. In an increasingly competitive graduate labor market, employers who respond to our surveys continue to express their confidence in UNAM graduates, while the global academic community rates them increasingly highly,” he said.

Sowter also offered a recommendation to move Mexican academic institutions further up the ranking. “Once again, we continue to see that Mexican performance is hampered by low scores on research impact … data from our research partners … suggest[s] a strong correlation between international collaboration and the impact … it is essential that Mexican political institutions find ways to intensify commitment to the global academic community,” he said.

Globally, the top placed university on the list was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which broke a record by coming first place for the 10th consecutive year. The University of Oxford climbed to second place for the first time since 2006, while Stanford University and University of Cambridge shared third place.

Regionally, the highest ranked university was the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Mexico News Daily