Top universities in Brazil 2026

By seeta.bhardwa@…, 3 December, 2025

Top universities in Brazil 2026

Brazil Rank 2026	LatAm Rank 2026	University	Overall	Teaching	Research Environment	Research Quality	Industry	International Outlook
1	1	University of São Paulo	62.8	65.5	56.1	69.9	96.6	43.4
2	2	University of Campinas	58.1	58.7	52.3	69.1	78.1	41.5
=3	=4	Federal University of Rio de Janeiro	47.9	50.2	38.4	56.8	84.9	37.2
=3	=4	Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)	47.9	52.1	38.1	57.5	62.7	39
5	6	Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)	44.2	42	39.1	50.7	72.8	45.4
6	8	Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul	40.9	42.1	27.4	60.1	56.7	35.6
7	10	Federal University of Minas Gerais	39.8	45.6	26.5	50.2	53	36.9
=8	=11	Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina	39.3	40.9	26.1	54.5	65.5	37
=8	=11	Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)	39.3	40.7	28.6	51.6	59.2	36.3
10	15	Federal University of São Carlos	36.9	38.1	26.5	50	55.4	33.1
11	17	Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR)	34.5	41.1	20.4	43	51.9	35.4
12	19	Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)	33	39	22	35	57.8	36.1
13	20	University of Brasília	32.1	37.7	19.2	42.4	33.2	35.7
14	21	Universidade Federal de Pernambuco	32	38.7	19.3	36.8	62.5	28.8
15	22	Federal University of Lavras	30.9	34.8	21.8	38.9	32.8	29.9
16	26	Unisinos University	29.5	26.1	25.3	36.6	55.3	30.7
17	27	Federal University of Goiás	29.3	36	23.3	28.2	25.4	30.6
18	28	Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP)	29.2	25.6	29.8	34.5	35.2	26
19	=30	Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC)	28.4	22.2	20.2	46.7	28.9	45.1
20	=32	Federal University of Santa Maria	28.3	28.4	17.5	44.6	37.2	27.7
21	37	Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ)	27.7	36.8	13.8	35.1	23.2	29.7
22	38	Catholic University of Brasília	27.6	32.8	26.2	18	22.2	37.4
23	=39	Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)	27	31.2	16.5	31.8	43.3	33.2
=24	=44	Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná	26.5	27.4	16	35.8	52.4	31.4
=24	=44	Universidade Estadual de Maringá	26.5	35.1	16.3	29.5	26.8	23.7
=26	=48	Federal University of Espírito Santo	26.3	28.6	15.2	34.3	53	30
=26	=48	Fluminense Federal University	26.3	27.9	15.4	39.9	27.2	31.5
28	50	Federal University of Pelotas	26.2	27.8	16.9	38.7	25	27.2
29	51	Federal University of Viçosa	26	33.4	13.7	32.6	28.7	27.5
30	54	Universidade Federal da Bahia	25.6	30.2	15.6	31.7	25.1	33
31	=59	Federal Rural University of Pernambuco	25.1	36	12.1	28.2	24.1	24.6
32	61	Federal University of Uberlândia	25	28.2	15.1	32.6	39.4	25.9
=33	=64	Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul	24.7	26.9	16.3	29.4	37.8	32.3
=33	=64	Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora	24.7	27	15.4	33.9	25.1	31.5
35	=67	Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro	24.6	32.2	14	25.9	21.9	35
36	69	Londrina State University	24.5	32.6	13.7	27.6	26.9	25.9
=37	=70	Federal University of Pará	24.4	28.6	14.7	31.5	28.4	26.5
=37	=70	Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina	24.4	34.5	13.5	24.5	27.4	23.9
39	=73	Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA)	24.3	26.5	16.4	30.4	30.4	30.3
40	=78	State University of Ponta Grossa	23.3	27.7	19.7	20.2	20.6	28.1
41	=95	University of Passo Fundo (UPF)	21.5	22.9	14.9	28.4	19	27.9
42	=99	State University of Santa Cruz	20.7	27.9	11.6	18	19.3	36.1
=43	101–125	Ceará State University	18.1–20.6	26.3	13.8	15	19.8	22
=43	101–125	Mackenzie Presbyterian University	18.1–20.6	24.5	13.9	18.4	27.2	29.9
=43	101–125	PUC-Campinas	18.1–20.6	24.7	13.4	14.2	18.5	24.1
=43	101–125	Universidade Cidade de São Paulo	18.1–20.6	17.6	15.2	15.9	17.6	47.2
=43	101–125	Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (Unioeste)	18.1–20.6	28	10.8	11.8	17.9	21.7
=43	101–125	Universidade Federal de Sergipe	18.1–20.6	21.3	12.6	24.5	22.8	29.9
=43	101–125	University of Vale do Itajaí	18.1–20.6	20	16.6	16.3	40.4	32.3
=50	126–150	Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca (CEFET-RJ)	17.3–18.0	18.1	11.3	21.9	18.6	36.3
=50	126–150	Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS)	17.3–18.0	23.4	11.2	15.7	17.9	28.3
=50	126–150	Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA)	17.3–18.0	18.6	12.9	19.4	24.6	24.2
=53	151+	Cruzeiro do Sul University	11.4–17.2	13.9	9.6	9.8	16.8	41.9
=53	151+	Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo	11.4–17.2	15.1	7.2	6	17.5	23.3
=53	151+	Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais	11.4–17.2	19.4	11.7	17.7	19.5	25.5
=53	151+	Positivo University	11.4–17.2	24.1	9.3	6.4	16.5	32.1
=53	151+	State University of Bahia	11.4–17.2	23.6	9.8	6.5	17.1	22.3
=53	151+	State University of Southwestern Bahia (UESB)	11.4–17.2	28.8	9.6	8.2	16.5	19.5
=53	151+	Tiradentes University	11.4–17.2	17.1	9.9	12.4	17.3	43.2
=53	151+	UNESC	11.4–17.2	21.9	10.2	13.8	23.7	31.4
=53	151+	Unichristus	11.4–17.2	20.9	9.9	7.1	16.3	22.3
=53	151+	Universidade Estadual do Maranhão	11.4–17.2	17.3	10.4	9.3	16.2	24
=53	151+	Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Arido	11.4–17.2	20.6	9.3	11	16.3	19.1
=53	151+	Universidade Nove de Julho (Uninove)	11.4–17.2	22.8	9.6	9.7	17.8	32.1
=53	151+	University of Caxias do Sul	11.4–17.2	21.8	10.5	14.3	23.5	23.4
=53	151+	University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR)	11.4–17.2	17.9	11.2	18.4	19.6	29.7
=53	151+	University of Franca	11.4–17.2	13.8	9.3	6	16.9	21.8
=53	151+	University of Pernambuco	11.4–17.2	19.8	10.4	16.8	19.7	27.2

Key insights into the Brazil University Rankings 2026

Brazil is among the world’s fastest-growing major economies, with economic reforms that are constantly pushing it forward on the international stage.
There are 68 universities from Brazil in the Latin America University Rankings 2026. It is the most-represented country in the ranking
Brazilian universities take seven places in the top 10
The University of São Paulo is the top-ranked Brazilian university and is also the top institution in the Latin America University Rankings

Choosing a university in Brazil

Brazil is South America’s fastest-growing economy and this is reflected in the many university options in the bustling cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, among others. Public university education is free for international and domestic students, so students will most likely only have to pay a registration fee. Private universities do charge fees and this will depend on the course and university.

The table for the best universities in Brazil was derived from data collected from the THE Latin America University Rankings. The results are calculated using 18 performance indicators underlying five metrics: research environment, teaching (the learning environment), research quality, industry and international outlook. For more insights and a detailed breakdown of our ranking methodology, visit our methodology page. Use the Brazil university ranking table above to explore the right institution for you.

Thumbnail image

Section

Best universities

Standfirst

Find the best universities in Brazil using Times Higher Education’s Latin America University Rankings 2026. This table has been put together using a trusted methodology that ranks universities on teaching quality, research output and international outlook

Country

Brazil

Student logo

Display TAP Popcard?

Best universities in Brazil 2026