South Africa is home to several world-class universities that offer a wide range of programmes and are recognised for their research excellence. These universities attract students from all over the world and contribute significantly to the country's knowledge economy.
The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) assessed 19 788 institutions from around the world and the institutions that were placed at the top made the Global 2 000 list. The latest edition of the Global 2000 list was published on Tuesday, 26 April 2022.
12 South African universities made this list and according to the list these universities would be ranked in South Africa as follows:
- University of Cape Town (UCT)
- University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)
- Stellenbosch University (SU)
- University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
- University of Pretoria (UP)
- University of Johannesburg (UJ)
- North West University
- University of the Free State (UFS)
- University of the Western Cape (UWC)
- Unisa
- Rhodes University
- Nelson Mandela University (NMU)
UCT, Wits, SU and UKZN ranked in the top 500 universities in the world.
According to these rankings, UCT is also the best university on the African continent for 2022/23.
CWUR ranked institutions using seven indicators grouped into four areas:
- Education: this is measured by the number of a university’s alumni who have won major academic distinctions relative to the university’s size.
- Employability: this is measured by the number of a university’s alumni who have held top executive positions at the world’s largest companies relative to the university’s size.
- Faculty: this is measured by the number of faculty members who have won major academic distinctions.
- Research: made up of:
- Research output, measured by the total number of research articles.
- High-quality publications, measured by the number of research articles appearing in top-tier journals.
- Influence, measured by the number of research articles appearing in highly influential journals.
- Citations, measured by the number of highly cited research articles.
South Africa has several reputable universities that are recognised globally for their academic excellence and research capabilities. It's important to consider various factors when choosing a university, such as programme offerings, location and cost, in addition to rankings.
