The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been named South Africa’s best university once more, but it has warned South Africans not to overestimate the rankings.
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UCT was named the best university in Africa by US News & World Report’s Best Global Universities rankings.
The rankings are solely based on institutions’ overall academic research and reputations. Thus, undergraduate or postgraduate programmes are excluded from the comparison.
US News cautioned that these rankings should not be the only factor in deciding where to study. Location, culture, the effectiveness of specific programmes, and cost are all important considerations.
The overall ranking includes 2 250 institutions from 104 countries, with 13 indicators used to assess and compare global research performance.
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These 13 indicators and their weights in the ranking formula can be found below:
Ranking indicator | Weight |
Global research reputation | 12.5% |
Regional research reputation | 12.5% |
Publications | 10% |
Books | 2.5% |
Conferences | 2.5% |
Normalized citation impact | 10% |
Total citations | 7.5% |
Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited | 12.5% |
Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited | 10% |
Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% of most highly cited papers | 5% |
International collaboration | 5% |
Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field | 5% |
Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers | 5% |
UCT ranks first among South African universities, with a score of 70 and a global ranking of 116.
Despite its top ranking, UCT’s acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation, Professor Jeff Murugan, cautioned that more should be considered.
‘While rankings assess various aspects of university quality, such as academic reputation, research output, faculty expertise and student satisfaction, they often don’t capture the full breadth of the impact of our work,’ said Murugan.
‘These rankings typically focus on measurable criteria, but universities also play a vital role in shaping public policy, promoting informed public discourse, advancing science and strengthening democracy and human rights.’
‘These contributions, though harder to quantify, are essential to the holistic value that universities provide to society.’
Other rankings should therefore be considered when comparing universities.
For example, according to the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, the University of Johannesburg is the best university in South Africa for driving meaningful change in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In the US News rankings, UJ finished fourth with a score of 58.4 and a global ranking.
This was surpassed by the traditional University of the Witwatersrand (score of 61.9 and global ranking of 264) and Stellenbosch University (score of 60.0 and global ranking of 311).
Overall, 15 South African universities made the list, with the University of Limpopo receiving the lowest rating (score of 17.2 and global ranking of 2 182).
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Local rank | Global rank | University | Score |
1 | 116 | University of Cape Town | 70 |
2 | 264 | University of the Witwatersrand | 61.9 |
3 | 311 | Stellenbosch University | 60.0 |
4 | 357 | University of Johannesburg | 58.3 |
5 | 401 | University of Kwazulu Natal | 56.8 |
6 | 439 | University of Pretoria | 55.8 |
7 | 540 | North West University | 52.9 |
8 | 726 | University of the Western Cape | 48.1 |
9 | 861 | University of South Africa | 45.5 |
10 | 912 | University of the Free State | 44.5 |
11 | 953 | Rhodes University | 43.4 |
12 | 1,181 | Tshwane University of Technology | 39.8 |
13 | 1,223 | Durban University of Technology | 39.0 |
14 | 1,268 | Nelson Mandela University | 38.2 |
15 | 2,182 | University of Limpopo | 17.2 |
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