The items that were evaluated best are Accreditation with 86.2% and Research with 78.4%. Nine UFRO programs are among the top ten in Chile. Nursing and Nutrition are in third place among 34 national universities. These figures made it possible that this institution climbed from place 13 last year to place 11 in the report 2018.

The Universidad de La Frontera climbed from place 13 to 11 according to the report of the América Economía Ranking 2018. Mainly, this achievement is the result of systematic work and the determination this educational institution has in order to keep improving each day.

According to information from the Division of Analysis and Institutional Development (DADI), one of the reasons the UFRO climbed up is that the indicators Teaching Quality and University Life improved. In this regard, the ranking positively takes the areas for sports and physical activity into account, such as sports courts, gyms, athletic tracks, besides of all activities that are linked with sports and the students´ recreation.

The dimensions the Ranking considered are: Teaching Quality, Student Quality, Research, Accreditation, Infrastructure and Efficiency, Internationalization, Inclusion and Diversity, Community Outreach, and University Life.

ACCREDITATION AND RESEARCH

Another important indicator is Accreditation in which the academic offer of this educational institution is among the ones with the highest ratings, as well as the Universidad de Talca and the Universidad de los Andes.

The item Research, although it has had a decrease compared to last year by almost three points, keeps being within the ones with the best average and has an even better score than most of the other top ten universities. The Universidad de La Frontera´s researchers´ work also shows in the large number of WOS publications – a total of 1570 – between 2014 and 2016.

LEADING UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS

Nursing and Nutrition are in third place out of 34 judged universities, with excellent indicators of seven and six years of accreditation, apart from a strong academic body and an employment rate of 99% in the case of the Nursing program.

RANKING OF THE UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS

The América Economía Ranking analyzed 16 undergraduate programs at 34 universities. The UFRO programs that achieved to be among the top 10 are: Agronomy, Nursing, Civil Industrial Engineering, Medicine, Nutrition and Dietetics, Dentistry, Psychology, Sociology and Civil Electrical Engineering.
Compared to 2017, Agronomy stayed in seventh place, Nursing in third, Medicine climbed from eighth to seventh, Nutrition from fourth to third, Dentistry from sixth to fifth, Psychology from fifth to fourth, Civil Electrical Engineering stayed in seventh place, and Civil Industrial Engineering entered the ranking for the first time in ninth place. Sociology is the only program that descended from sixth to eighth place.

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS

It is important to note that there are aspects that have to be improved. Mainly, the item Community Outreach, which has the weakest score in the report. According to Dr. Ricardo Herrera, director of DADI, this indicator clearly shows where to put more efforts.

“This is an invitation to non-compliance, to keep working, particularly on the contact and link with the community of Temuco and our region. This is not about working in order to appear in the rankings. It is about knowing with certainty in which field we have to work harder. Simultaneously, we have to keep strengthening research as one of the keys for growth.”

The Psychology and Dentistry programs, both among the top five in relation to the simile at the national level, have a common denominator with a low score: the item Prestige. This item is based on the survey that has been randomly sent to a group of university professors of each institution. The scores on this item are between 10 and 27 points, except for the Sociology program which, although being in the eighth position with respect to the top ten, marks a score of 35.5.

For the purpose of this report, the item Prestige is weighted by 20% and it is of crucial importance that the academics who receive this survey each year answer in a way that evaluates and recognizes the programs by the work that has been done.

Written by: Division of Analysis and Institutional Developments