International rankings evaluate the world’s leading universities, which start to be seen as centers of excellence, facilitating relations with other universities and creating opportunities for academic communities. USP has stood out as the leading Ibero-American university in aspects such as the relevance of scientific production, sustainability, and academic reputation.
In Times Higher Education ranking, USP is among the 200 most important in the world, a position not reached since 2013, and in the QS, it has been among the 100 best since 2023, a position never reached in this evaluation. In the UI GreenMetric ranking, USP is the 8th most sustainable in the world. It is also important to highlight USP’s 1st place as the best university in Brazil in the Ranking Universitário Folha.
It is unusual for a university like USP, in terms of its size and large number of students, to achieve such high positions when compared to the best in the world. USP has been the exception.
North American and British universities have remained stable in the rankings, while countries such as South Korea, China, Germany, and France are on the rise, thanks to the robust policies to encourage education from primary school and investments to foster quality in higher education, with programs of excellence, increasing international competitiveness.
In Brazil, the best-ranked institutions are public and, in order to rise to higher positions, a change in university governance is needed.
Universities could, for example, be free to invite professors from abroad for academic activities for a fixed period of time. In addition, the public examination for hiring teachers is bureaucratic, with external evaluators predominantly taking part and rules that prevent greater contact with the candidates. At institutions abroad, it is common for search committees to be set up, inviting candidates to take part in academic activities, and only after these evaluations can they be hired.
Delays in acquiring material and equipment for research hinder the development of scientific production. It is important to reduce bureaucracy in these processes, as well as in the bidding process for building physical infrastructure for teaching and research.
On the other hand, the approval of the Legal Framework for Science, Technology, and Innovation, which facilitates the academia’s contact with the productive sector, proves that changes can be implemented, improving academic activity.
USP’s position in the rankings consolidates it as a world-class university. The academic and financial autonomy achieved in 1989 has been essential, as it ensures the planning of investments in teaching, research, culture, extension, innovation, internationalization, and the transfer of knowledge to society.
Yes, we can have Brazilian universities among the 50 best in the world. Qualified human resources are present, but we need to have equal conditions to compete with our international counterparts.
English version: Nexus Traduções
(Text originally published in Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, on 10/27/24)
