Latin American universities get poor grades

Forget about oil-rich demagogues and retro-progressive populists: Latin America's real long-term problem to compete in the global economy may be the poor quality of its universities.

The 2006 editions of the two most authoritative rankings of the world's best universities -- put out respectively by the London Times Educational Supplement and by the University of Shanghai -- have now been published, and they coincide in giving pretty bad grades to the region's higher education institutions.

The ''World's top 200 universities -- 2006'' edition of the London Times Education Supplement, released Friday, is led by Harvard University, and includes only one Latin American or Caribbean university, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, which last year made the top 200, fell off the list in this year's ranking.

''To be honest, I am surprised that we don't see more Latin American universities,'' said Martin Ince, editor of the London Times universities' ranking, in a telephone interview from London. ``Part of the reason is that 40 percent of the score relies on what other academics think, and you don't see much research coming out of Latin American universities.''

Indeed, even Mexico's UNAM, which moved up from 95th place last year to 74th, gets the worst possible ranking -- a zero -- in research citations in international academic publications. ''They don't produce very much in terms of highly scientific papers. It's more a university for teaching than for academic research,'' Ince says.

The University of Shanghai's Academic Ranking of World Universities 2006, in turn, is also led by Harvard University, and includes only three Latin American Universities among its top 200. The ranking, which after the first 100 places lumps the rest together in groups of 50, lists Brazil's University of Sao Paulo in the 102-150 bloc, while Argentina's University of Buenos Aires and the UNAM are placed in the 151-200 category.

There is little to celebrate for Latin America in these rankings. The three Latin American universities appear way below many universities in China (Beijing University is ranked 15th in the world in the London Times survey), Singapore, India, South Korea and several other countries.

How can one explain that China, whose per capita income is $1,943 a year, has 10 times more universities among the London Times' top 200 than Mexico, whose per capita income is $7,593? Or that India, with a per capita income of only $769, has three universities on the list, while Brazil and Argentina -- with per capita incomes of more than $5,100 each -- have none?

It's not a question of how much money countries spend on their universities, but of how they spend it, experts say. While U.S., European and Asian universities have strong incentives to improve themselves, big Latin American public universities are used to getting money from the state, with little accountability.

''There is no doubt that Latin America is lagging substantially behind in higher education,'' says Jeffrey Puryear, a leading education expert with the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. ``Part of it is that governments don't demand high standards from universities. Universities have a lot of political power, and they resist evaluation.''

In addition, Latin American governments give most of their higher education funds to universities, rather than to students. The latter would allow students to choose where to study, which in turn would drive up competition among universities, Puryear said.

Finally, big state-run universities such as the UNAM or the UBA are free, which means in effect that the poor are subsidizing the rich through their taxes. A substantial number of graduates from these schools are middle class or upper-middle class students, who could pay tuition. Even in Communist China and Socialist-ruled Spain, students who can afford it pay tuition, and the money is used to fund scholarships for the poor.

My opinion: Latin American universities have a lot of talented people, which could elevate them easily to world-class status. But to do that, they will have to admit that they have a problem, begin to be more accountable, and modernize. So far, they are not doing it, and the latest rankings show it.

Juan Vicente Astudillo Campos