- The 2015 QS University Rankings: Latin America states that our University is the third best higher education institution in Chile. This is, undoubtedly, the consequence of meeting the institutional strategic guidelines and objectives.
- Universidad de Santiago is the 16th best university in Latin America, out of more than 300 institutions. Universidad de Santiago pushed Universidad de Concepción into the fourth position. Universidade de Sao Paulo ousted Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile from the first place.
- According to the report, Universidad de Santiago stands out in indicators like academic reputation and web impact, in which it reached the third and fourth place, respectively.
- In the survey, QS considers seven essential indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, papers per faculty, citations per paper, proportion of staff with a PhD, and web impact.
The last version of the QS University Rankings: Latin America stated that Universidad de Santiago is the third best higher education institution in Chile, followed by renowned universities: Universidad de Concepción, in the fourth place; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, in the fifth; Universidad Austral de Chile, in the seventh; and Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, in the eighth place.
Besides, our University is the 16th best university in Latin America, out of more than 300 institutions included in the survey. According to the report issued by QS, it stands out for its academic reputation, what places it among the first eleven institutions.
In Chile, Universidad de Santiago is not only one of the three best higher education institutions: it also stands out in indicators like academic reputation and web impact, in which it was ranked the 3rd and 4th place, respectively.
Methodology
The survey is based on a methodology that includes seven essential indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, papers per faculty, citations per paper, proportion of staff with a PhD, and web impact.
The academic reputation is the indicator which has been given the higher weighting (30%). It is related to the prestige of every institution. It is based on two large worldwide surveys that involve academics and business people.
The employer reputation indicator (20%) relates to the renown that every university has in the world and the impact it has on its graduates’ employability.
The faculty/student ratio indicator has a weighting of 10% of the overall score.
According to QS, the number of papers per faculty indicator (10%) reflects the size of the universities, their strength and impact of their research works.
The citation per paper indicator (10%) refers to the number of research works being conducted at every faculty of a university.
The proportion of staff with a PhD indicator (10%) refers to the number of academics holding this degree and working at the faculties of a university.
The web impact indicator (10%) provides an insight into the impact and efficacy of every university on the Internet.
Efforts that reflect the excellence
The third place obtained by Universidad de Santiago corresponds with the efforts made by the university community to improve its standards for academic excellence.
In this sense, the Institutional Strategic Plan (PEI, in Spanish) 2011-2015, states that Universidad de Santiago’s mission “seeks to reach the highest standards in quality, innovation and relevance, in an environment of mutual respect for others, freedom of thought, diversity and social inclusion, providing space for discussion and proposals in a multidisciplinary and pluralist dialogue.”
In addition, Universidad de Santiago has signed several agreements with renowned foreign institutions and countries. For example, the Memorandum of Agreement signed last January with the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) that involves the implementation of an experimental laboratory in order to conduct research on Social Sciences.
Likewise, the agreement signed by our university and Universidade de Sao Paulo- top at the 2015 Latin American QS Ranking- seeks to promote academic outreach through conferences, teaching and research activities, and student exchange, both at a graduate and undergraduate level.
Besides, the six years (2014-2020) of accreditation given by the National Accreditation Commission (CNA-Chile, in Spanish) to Universidad de Santiago are the result of the constant efforts made by the University to strengthen the different areas of the institutional work.
Translated by Marcela Contreras
