PUCRS ranked best private university in Brazil

Folha University Ranking shows PUCRS atop private HEIs in category Research

Photo: Bruno Todeschini

PUCRS appears as best private university in Brazil, for the second year in a row, in the 2018 edition of Folha University Ranking (RUF), compiled by newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. Considering all private institutions, the institution stays atop in the category research, and second in Innovation and Internationalization. Just like the previous year, the overall ranking brings the institution at #18, behind public higher education institutions. Overall, 196 public and private institutions made it to the list. The indicators used are: research, internationalization, innovation, teaching and market. The list was published on Oct 1.

Most prestigious programs

Overall, the top-ranked programs of PUCRS in the RUF 2018 are: Communications (7^th), Automation Engineering and Control (7^th), Psychology (8^th) and Social Work (10^th). These programs are in the top 10 of all programs in their areas, all over the country. The Medicine program ranks atop all other Medical school programs in private institutions. Overall, it is at #11 (see below). This list is published every year and includes 40 different programs from universities, colleges and academic centers with the largest number of first-year students in the country (as per the 2015 Higher Education Census). It uses national and international data and two Datafolha opinion polls on teaching and market.

Updated methodology

Photo: Camila Cunha

The methodology used in RUF 2018 has been improved. The indicator Innovation has a 4% weight on the overall grade, and now considers the number of academic papers published in partnership with the production sector. This is a response to the patents filed by Higher Education Institutions. The ranking now considers the scientific production data compiled over the period of five years (2011-2015) as opposed to previous editions, which featured data compiled over the period of two years. Lastly, the grade awarded to the Exame Nacional de Desempenho (Enade), a national exam used to assess the quality of undergraduate programs, doubled in importance, and now has a weight of 4 points.

About RUF

The Folha University Ranking is a list of higher education records of Brazil that has been compiled every year by Folha de São Paulo since 2012. It looks at universities and higher education programs. The RUF is compiled in view of the data provided by the Higher Education Census of Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (Inep/MEC), Enade (National High School Exam), SciELO and Web of Science platforms, Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (Inpi), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Capes (Brazilian Federal Agency for Evaluation and Support of Higher Education), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (National Council of Scientific and Technological Development), local research agencies and two Datafolha pools, conducted every year.

PUCRS in RUF 2018

1^st considering all private universities in Brazil (18^th overall)

1^st in the category Research considering all private universities in Brazil (19^th overall)

2^nd in the category Innovation considering all private universities in Brazil (7^th overall)

2^nd in the category Internationalization considering all private universities in Brazil (12^th overall)

TOP 20 ACADEMIC PROGRAMS IN BRAZIL*

#1 considering all private Institutions

Medicine: 1^st in Brazil (11^th overall)

#1 in the South of Brazil considering all private institutions

Computer Science: 1^st in the South of Brazil (13^th overall)

Communications: 1^st in the South of Brazil (7^th overall)

Control and Automation Engineering: 1^st in the South of Brazil (7^th overall)

Economics: 1^st in the South of Brazil (16^th overall)

Physics: 1^st in the South of Brazil (19^th overall)

Letters: 1^st in the South of Brazil (12^th overall)

Mathematics: 1^st in the South of Brazil (20^th overall)

Pedagogy: 1^st in the South of Brazil (18^th overall)

Psychology: 1^st in the South of Brazil (8^th overall)

Social Work: 1^st in the South of Brazil (10^th overall)

Other private institutions from Rio Grande do Sul

Architecture and Urbanism: 2^nd in Rio Grande do Sul (13^th overall)

Philosophy: 2^nd in Rio Grande do Sul (16^th overall)

Dentistry: 2^nd in Rio Grande do Sul (17^th overall)

Advertising and Marketing: 2^nd in Rio Grande do Sul (13^th overall)

*Including similar or related programs.