The 5 best universities in Latin America

13 Mar 2018

As Latin American economies develop at a rapid pace, so does its tertiary education sector.

According to the World Bank, the number of students in higher education has doubled across Latin America and the Caribbean over the past decade. For international students, it offers an opportunity for affordable tertiary qualifications and a chance to study Spanish or Portuguese in-country.

Here are the very best schools in the region, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

University of the Andes, Colombia (Colombia)

Source: University of the Andes – Colombia

The University of the Andes is located in the Colombian capital of Bogota and is ranked 5^th best in Latin America according to THE.

It was founded in 1948 and offers a wide range of areas of study for its 16,880 students including medicine, science, engineering, law, economics, social science, and arts and humanities.

One of the university’s PhD candidates Pablo Palacios was in 2017 recognised as young Afro-Colombian of the year for his discovery of a new frog species.

University of Chile (Chile)

Source: Wiki Commons

Located in the Chilean capital of Santiago, 4^th ranked University of Chile has 38,079 fulltime students across its 18 faculties.

Eloísa Díaz Insunza – the first woman to attend university in South America – graduated from the University of Chile as a doctor in 1887.

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Chile)

Source: Youtube

Established in the late 19^th Century, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile is one of six private Catholic higher education institutions in Chile.

More than 26,000 students attend the university, which has more applicants than any other school in the country. Pontifical Catholic University of Chile specialises in mathematics, physics, economics and management.

University of São Paulo (Brazil)

Source: Alf Ribeiro / Shutterstock

The University of São Paulo is one of Brazil’s oldest and largest higher education institutions, boasting 11 campuses both in and out of the country’s most bustling metropolis

It has 83,201 fulltime students and its University of São Paulo Medical School Public Hospital is the largest hospital in Latin America.

State University of Campinas (Brazil)

Source: State University of Campinas

The best university in all of Latin America, the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) was founded in 1966 and is responsible for 8 percent of Brazil’s articles in scientific journals.

A public research university with 26,966 students, Unicamp offers 70 different undergraduate programmes and 153 postgraduate programmes across four main areas: exact sciences, human sciences, biological sciences and technology.

It owns three large hospitals making it perfect for medical students. Tuition at Unicamp – like other public universities in Brazil – is free for EU students.