Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC): QS ranking places UC among the best universities in the world in 33 disciplines

According to the latest 2022 version of the international measurement, UC is ranked among the best institutions in the world in 33 areas of knowledge, two more than last year. In 6 of them it is located within the top 50: Modern Languages ​​(N°33), Civil and Structural Engineering (N°34), Education (N°35), Law (N°38), Architecture (N°39) and Geography (N°47). In another 11 disciplines, UC is within the top 100 (in the 51-100 bracket).

The British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) published today, April 6, the twelfth version of its study by areas of knowledge, the results of which rank UC among the best schools in the world in 33 areas, two more than last year.

This 2022 version of the QS World University Rankings by Subject considers 51 specific disciplines, grouped into 5 major academic areas: Arts and Humanities; Engineering and Technology; Life Sciences and Medicine; Natural Sciences; Social Sciences and Management. In 6 of them, the UC is located within the top 50: Modern Languages ​​(No. 33), Civil and Structural Engineering (No. 34), Education (No. 35), Law (No. 38), Architecture (No. °39) and Geography (N°47). In another 11 disciplines, the institution is within the top 100 (in the 51-100 range).

“The recent result of the QS ranking by disciplinary areas confirms the national leadership of our university and positions us once again among the main ones in the Latin American region. This is undoubtedly a great job by the university community, which has dedicated itself with passion, commitment and great knowledge to developing innovative teaching and new knowledge in the different disciplines of knowledge. It is without a doubt a joy for the university and the country”, emphasizes the rector Ignacio Sánchez.



“This is a great job by the university community, which has dedicated itself with passion, commitment and great knowledge to developing innovative teaching and new knowledge in the different disciplines of knowledge. It is without a doubt a joy for the university and the country”- Rector Ignacio Sánchez.

At the Latin American level, the University of Sao Paulo leads the ranking with a total of 44 disciplines among the best in the world and 13 in the top 50. It is followed by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM , with 42 disciplines in total and 11 in the top 50. top 50


For his part, Provost Guillermo Marshall emphasizes that the 2022 QS ranking by disciplines places UC among the leading universities in Latin America.” This result is consistent with the general QS ranking obtained by UC and the QS ranking of Latin American universities, and It is mainly due to the prestige that our students, teachers and study programs have,” he says.

The British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has been producing the QS World University Rankings since 2004. It is one of the most recognized and internationally used university rankings. In response to demands for more detailed studies that allow institutions to be compared at the disciplinary level, since 2011 QS has produced university rankings by area of ​​knowledge, the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

“ The 2022 QS ranking by disciplines places UC among the leading universities in Latin America. This result is consistent with the general QS ranking obtained by the UC and the QS ranking of Latin American universities, and is mainly due to the prestige of our students, professors and study programs.” – Pro-Chancellor Guillermo Marshall.

Methodology
Regarding the methodology used in the ranking, the British company decided to use only indicators that allowed an analysis at the discipline level. In this way, the rankings by area are based on the results of surveys of academics and employers and on bibliometric indicators obtained from the SCOPUS database . Specifically, the rankings by discipline consider 4 indicators: academic reputation, reputation among employers, citations per paper and H-Index.

The Academic Reputation indicator is associated with the results of a survey applied by QS to academics around the world. Between 2017 and 2021, QS collected responses from more than 130,000 academics, who were asked about the universities of research excellence for each of their areas of expertise.

The Employer Reputation indicator is based on the QS survey of employers around the world. More than 75,000 responses obtained between 2017 and 2021 were considered in this latest version of the ranking. These employers are asked to identify up to 10 universities in their country and 30 foreign universities that they consider excellent for recruiting their graduates. They are also asked to identify the disciplines from which the graduates they prefer to recruit come from.

In the indicator Citations by paper , the ranking has opted for this indicator due to the lack of information regarding the academic staff by discipline for each institution. The source of information for this indicator is the Elsevier SCOPUS database .

As of 2013, the H Index was included within the indicators considered in the rankings by areas. This is an indicator that tries to measure both the quantity (productivity) and the quality (impact) of scientific activity, both at the level of a specific researcher and a group of researchers (a department, a Faculty, a University or a group). country, for example).

General results
The 2022 QS ranking by area considers 1,543 universities from 89 countries, 90 more than the previous year. The countries with the highest number of institutions in the ranking are the United States (227), the United Kingdom (105), China (94), France (75) and India (61).

Regarding the best evaluated institutions, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University are the ones that lead the study. Both universities are in first place in the ranking in 12 of the 51 disciplines. At the level of large areas, MIT leads in engineering and technology and in natural sciences. Harvard, meanwhile, ranks first in life sciences and medicine and in social sciences and management. In the area of ​​arts and humanities, the University of Oxford is located in the first place in the ranking.