At the brink of its 10 year anniversary, UFABC has earned its greatest international recognition yet. Time Higher Education (THE), known for international university rankings, has just divulged the first edition of the Latin America University Rankings, which features the 50 most distinguished universities in Latin America in the year of 2016. UFABC ranks among them, and, despite its few years of existence, at the 18th place overall, 9th place in Brazil and 5th among federal universities, which puts it ahead of a considerable number of traditional Latin American universities.
This is the result of public recognition of a high level work being performed at UFABC for the last 10 years by professor, students and staff. The goal of excellence that pervades the academic environment at UFABC comes from its birth, with a pedagogical plan based on interdisciplinarity and emphasis on curricular flexibility with high quality standards.
The methodology used by THE in the Latin America University Rankings was adapted from the traditional rankings, so as to adapt to the region’s priorities.  International reputation, assessed through a survey with academics from all over the world, weighs heavily on research and teaching indicators. There are five groups of performance indicators: teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income. UFABC had a remarkable performance in the citations indicators, but being so young, still has a long way to go in the making of its international reputation.
The international recognition of teaching and research in the THE Latin American ranking shows how academic excellence and social inclusion can be integrated. Social inclusion, like scientific and technological development, so dear to Brazilian society, can be effectively reached through education when academic activities are infused with high quality levels. The effort of the last 10 years in the making of a different university points to a path towards the future, not just for UFABC, but for higher education.