International ranking places UFSC fifth among industry supporters in Brazil
Isabela Bianchi Pizzani, a student in the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering program at UFSC Joinville, explains to her colleague how a circulating water channel works. Photo by Gustavo Diehl/Agecom/UFSC.
The World University Rankings 2026, published by the English magazine Times Higher Education (THE), placed the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) fifth among the highest-rated Brazilian universities in the Industry pillar. According to the Rankings Methodology, this score reflects a university’s ability to “help industry with innovations, inventions and consultancy.”
Released on Thursday, 9 October, the World University Rankings 2026, assesses universities based on five core pillars—Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry, and International Outlook — in addition to providing an overall performance score.
In the Industry pillar, UFSC achieved a score of 65.5. Among Brazilian federal universities, only the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) ranks higher, with a score of 84.9. Leading the national ranking in this pillar is the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), which scored 96.6.
According to the Rankings Methodology, the Industry pillar is based on two metrics: the number of patents generated from university research, and the research income an institution earns from industry.
“The metric suggests the extent to which businesses are willing to pay for research and a university’s ability to attract funding in the commercial marketplace – useful indicators of institutional quality. But the extent to which universities are supporting their national economies through technology transfer is an area that deserves greater recognition,” explains THE in its methodology description.
More than 2,100 institutions evaluated
The World University Rankings 2026 evaluated 2,191 educational institutions across 115 countries and territories. In this edition, UFSC was placed in the 1001-1200 band, according to its overall score. The ranking does not assign an exact position within each band.
UFSC’s scores in the main pillars were as follows:
- Overall: 32.1-35.4
- Teaching: 36.3
- Research Environment: 22.4
- Research Quality: 40.8
- Industry: 65.5
- International Outlook: 37.0
Times Higher Education (THE) is a British magazine specializing in higher education news and analysis. In other rankings, THE also recognized UFSC as the fourth-best university in Brazil in interdisciplinary science and as one of the top three institutions in the country for Law.
Translated by SINTER/UFSC.
Read the original article here.
