Photo: Gilson Oliveira
The most recent edition of Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2019 features PUCRS as the best private institution in the south of Brazil and one of the top 3 private university in the country in a list that includes the universities from emerging countries. PUCRS fared well in the category Citations, earning the top position among the higher education institutions of Brazil. This shows the influence of the high-quality research developed at the University as well as the role it has to play in disseminating knowledge and ideas.
“PUCRS has seen a significant increase in terms of citations. This is a major recognition since this indicator is used to identify high-quality research that has been recognized by the academia. This shows the effort made by PUCRS researchers to the dissemination of knowledge in several areas”, adds Dr Fernanda Morrone, Research Director.
More than 65 million citations were identified in the ranking for 14 million articles in different publications over the period of five years. Citations indicate how much each university has contributed to human knowledge. They are used as an indicator of high quality research that has been cited by other scholars and shared by the academic community from all over the world.
PUCRS has also done a very good job in terms of Industry Income, as it ranked 2nd in a list that includes private and federal institutions of Brazil. This category looks at the universities’ capacity to help industries with innovation, inventions and advising services. The ranking looks at the incentives institutions receive from industries in order to develop their research and the ability to raise funds in the market.
“This is quite a relevant position the institution has achieved, since it shows the fruit of more than two decades of continuous work in establishing a world-level ecosystem of innovation at the University. We are so proud of these numbers. They result from several actions, including the cooperation activities involving companies and businesses, many of which are headquartered at the Science and Technology Park of PUCRS (Tecnopuc)”, says the Superintendent of Innovation and Development of PUCRS, Dr Jorge Audy.
Audy goes on to say that the Park is the most visible action that has been conducted with the society. In addition to it, he names the actions that have been carried out for more than a decade in the area of technology transfer, the Tecnopuc Startups, supporting laboratories, such as Fablab, Usalab and Crialab, as well as strategic cooperation areas in the academic realm. “Actions and projects recently developed by the University with the government and business agencies, such as the Alliance and the Pact for Innovation of Porto Alegre are also very important. We must pay special attention to the competence of our researchers and staff. They are the ones who develop the research and the knowledge that is transferred to society in RD&I projects and startups in our ecosystem of innovation”, he says.
The list features 442 universities from 43 countries. Brazil is the Latin American country with most universities in the ranking – 36 institutions.
