Brazil tops 2012 Latin America rankings

By María Elena Hurtado. Sixty five out of the 250 universities in the 2012 QS ranking on Latin America published late last month are Brazilian, with the University of São Paulo taking the top spot.
Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina make up 80% of the universities from the 19-country ranking.
Brazilian universities make up nine of the top 10 in the region for most research papers per faculty member. The top nine universities with the most academics with a PhD are also Brazilian.
“The dominance of Brazil reflects a focus on higher education as the key to unlocking its huge economic potential. The boom in research of the country’s universities follows major investments in research and development,” Danny Byrne, editor of http://TopUniversities.com, which publishes the rankings, told University World News.
However, if the top 200 universities in the QS University Ranking: Latin America were measured according to their countries’ populations, Brazil would fall behind Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Colombia and Peru.