For the first time ever, a Latin American institution placed among the world’s top universities in the London-basedTimes Higher Education’s World University Rankings. The annual list of colleges and universities, compiled using data collected by Thomson Reuters, is considered among the most reliable and accurate cross-country comparisons of higher education providers. This year’s 178th spot—anything under 200 is considered “gold standard”—went to theUniversity of São Paulo.

Although the top-ranked schools are invariably U.S. or UK-based universities, institutions from Asia and Latin America have been moving up in recent years. Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea each has a school ranked in the top-100. Brazil’s State University of Campinas also received honorable mention, falling in the top-300 school category. No other Latin American institution made the list.