29 February 2008 ORT Uruguay ranked among the world’s best universities The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) has ranked ORT Uruguay among the top two per cent of the world’s tertiary institutions for the third year in a row. The Rector of ORT Uruguay, Dr Jorge Grunberg, said the World Universities Ranking was an indication that there was a group of universities that had become world class. The fact that ORT, a young institution in a small country like Uruguay, is among this world class group of 500 universities sends a strong message, Dr Grunberg said. Of the more than 700 recognised universities in Latin America, only 21 were included in the ranking and ORT Uruguay the only Uruguayan institution listed was placed 13th. However, Dr Grunberg stressed that little importance was placed on the universitys individual ranking compared with the fact that it was consistently good enough to be listed. Every year the relative position changes so we cant say the individual ranking is telling us that one university is better than another, he said. Rather, he found the fact that ORT Uruguay was rubbing shoulders with prestigious institutions such as Spains University of Salamanca was inspirational. In its 800 years, the University of Salamanca has produced many famous alumni, including the author of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes, he said. Our academic performance in the 12 years since we officially became a university raises hopes that we may not have to wait centuries to produce our own historic figures. The THES ranking is based on the number of scientific publications, student-teacher ratio and the opinions of more than 3,700 academics and 700 companies worldwide. The THES ranking is not the only recognition of ORT Uruguays excellence. The universitys School of Management has been ranked among the best 25 in Latin America for the past seven years by the continents leading financial publication, America Economia. And last year, an evaluation of universities Schools of Engineering within the Mercosur free trade area resulted in the recognition of ORT Uruguays degrees in the member states of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay as well as in Bolivia.