Eight Latin American universities, among the 250 best in employability

Three Mexican universities, two Chilean, two Argentine and one Brazilian represent Latin America in the 2021 ranking of the 250 best higher education centers in the world in terms of the employability of their students, published on Wednesday by the British magazine Times Higher Education (THE ).

The representatives of the region in the Global Ranking of University Employability are the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, which rises to position 82 from 91 in 2020; the University of Sao Paulo, which climbs to 90 from 109; and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, now ranked 121 from 130.

They are followed by the University of Buenos Aires, which drops one position to 141; the University of Chile (157, up from 160); the Diego Portales University of Chile (239, from 250); the University of Guadalajara (243, down from 241); and the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (248).

Meanwhile, Spain has doubled the number of universities in the ranking, an improvement that owes to its strengths in soft skills, focus on work and digital literacy and performance, according to responses from nearly 11,000 recruiters and managers around the world.

The Global Ranking and Survey (GEURS) collects the 250 best higher education centers in the world.

In Europe, all Spanish universities improved their positions last year and IE University, with campuses in Segovia and Madrid, broke at the top of the list, in 19th place.

The Carlos III University of Madrid (157) and the Ramon Llul University (246) climb more than 15 places.

IE University is followed by the University of Navarra, which goes from position 45 to 41; the Autonomous of Barcelona, ​​rises from position 133 to 132; the Carlos III (from 157 to 138); the Autonomous of Madrid, from 149 to 144; the Complutense, from 187 to 186, and the Ramon Llul, from place 246 to 230.

In the survey, carried out by the international consultancy Emerging and published by the British magazine THE, recruiters place digital and social skills and subject specialization above academic ones for the first time.

The United States, France and the United Kingdom are the best represented in the table of a total of 44 countries and regions, while the United Kingdom, Israel and India stand out for their digital specialties.

When deciding where to study, the study explains, employability is an increasingly important factor: students and families want to know that the often high costs of a degree will lead to a beneficial outcome in the professional field.

He adds that increasingly, employers are looking for graduates with strong digital literacy and subject specialization skills rather than focusing on the prestige of the university they attended.

The poll was conducted by the Trendence electoral institute in 23 countries and regions, which collected 118,196 votes cast by 10,928 international recruiters and managers.

These professionals selected up to 15 universities from a list of 2,000 and argued the reasons for their votes.

In the top ten positions are, in this order: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the California Institute of Technology; Harvard University; Cambridge; Stanford; the University of Tokyo; Yale; Oxford; the University of Singapore, and Princeton.