Once again, UFRO achieved a leading position in a prestigious ranking. This time, it is the Shanghai Global Ranking of the best Sport Science Schools and Departments 2020, which concentrates on scientific productivity related to sport science.

Only two Chilean universities are included in this recent report of the Shanghai Ranking, which ranked the best higher education Sport Science Schools and Departments in the world. It is a great achievement for the university Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), which is ranked second best in Chile and fourth best in South America.

This year’s version of the Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Sport Science Schools and Departments ranked more than 400 universities around the world, with UFRO being in range 101-150 (as well as the Chilean university Universidad de Los Lagos). This is a notable achievement, considering that the last version of this ranking (published in 2018) did not rank any university from Chile.

The focus of this ranking lies on the research performance of sport universities or a university’s sport-related unit(s). Therefore, five different indicators have been used: papers indexed in Web of Science, total citations, citations per paper, papers published in top 25% journals, and percentage of papers with international co-authorship.

Regarding this important achievement, Dr. Renato Hunter, the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at UFRO, congratulated the research team of the Department of Physical Education, Sport and Recreation, who are the driving force behind this success, for their great work that has been recognized in this important international ranking.

“This is the first time that UFRO appears in this ranking and, on top of that, in a very good position. It is a recognition of the scientific output and commitment of the researchers of the Department of Physical Education, Sport and Recreation, which has turned into a complex academic unit that is not only concerned about a good teaching quality at the undergraduate and graduate level, but also about high-impact knowledge creation and dissemination in the very important fields of physical activity and healthy lifestyle,” Dr. Hunter added.

The academic staff of the Department of Physical Education, Sport and Recreation received this news with pride and satisfaction. “We are pleasantly surprised. This is something we did not expect, considering that none of the Chilean universities appeared in the first version in 2018, and now, the first time that we are in this ranking, we achieved such a good position, nationally as well as in South America,” commented Dr. Cristian Martínez, the director of the Department.

According to Dr. Martínez, ten years ago, the academic body of the Department started to do research in the fields of physical activity, sports and healthy lifestyle. That was accompanied by institutional support and investments in infrastructure, laboratories, equipment and the recruitment of new academic staff.

“This is the result of years of work. It encourages and challenges us to maintain or even improve our scientific productivity and the results regarding the indicators used in this ranking,” Dr. Martínez concluded.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE RANKING

Written by: UFRO Communications Office