Brazil, lost in the rankings

By Simon Schwartzman. The bad news: Earlier in October the Brazilian press announced the sad news that the University of São Paulo  (USP) usually considered the best university south of Rio Grande, had disappeared from the top list of 200 institutions of the Times Higher Education rankings, together with the prestigious State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). USP went from the 158th place to join the 226-250 group, while UNICAMP disappeared from the top 300 list completely. During the following days, many articles appeared in newspapers, magazines and blogs, trying to explain this sudden fall. The fact that USP remained among the best 150 in the also prestigious ranking of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University was no consolation. Read more...