The University of Havana falls to the 691st place in the global university ranking.

The University of Havana (UH), the main institution of higher education in Cuba, is experiencing setbacks in its academic reputation, dropping from the 467th place it held in 2023 to the 691st position in the QS World University Rankings this 2024.

The drop represents more than 200 points in the ranking elaborated by the prestigious British firm, after evaluating aspects such as citation of academic articles by faculty, academic reputation, job opportunities, international students enrolled in the university, international research networks, among others.

The leaders of the ranking are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, and the University of Oxford.

At the Latin American level, the University of Buenos Aires, the University of São Paulo, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC), and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) are leading the way. At the continental level, the University of Havana ranks 33rd.

Founded on January 5, 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest in Cuba and one of the first to be established in America. Currently, it has an enrollment of 13,471 students.

Compared to its previous results, the UH collapsed in almost all aspects of quality evaluated, while other universities in the region advanced.

In 2020, the UH entered the list of the top 500 universities for the first time, according to the QS World University Rankings.

Two years later, it improved 43 positions compared to the previous year. The university in Havana occupied the 467th position on the list at that time.

The annual ranking by the British consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has become a benchmark indicator for both students and professors regarding the academic performance of universities worldwide.

Another ranking, the SCImago Institutions Rankings 2024, published in May, also showed the poor results of Cuban higher education. In this case, at the national level, it was the University of Medical Sciences of Havana that ranked the highest, placing at 203, followed by the University of Havana (322), the Central University of Las Villas (394), the University of Oriente (399), and the University of Cienfuegos (416).