South African universities once again dominate in Africa, according to the 2016/17 US News & World Report Best Global Universities (BGU) rankings announced this week.
University of Cape Town is the continent’s top-ranked institution, with a score of 68.2 and coming in at 112 compared to the rest of the world.
University of the Witwatersrand is Africa’s second-ranked university, scoring 61,4 and in a global position of 222.
Coming in at number three for Africa, and 346 on the global stage is University of KwaZulu Natal, scoring 55,9.
Stellenbosch earned a score of 55,2, which placed it fourth in Africa and 368 in the world.
The top non-South African university in Africa, Cairo University scored 50,1 and earned fifth place on the continent and 511 in the world.
The University of Pretoria came in as Africa’s sixth-ranked institution, and 523 in the world, with a score of 49,6.
With a score of 48,6, University of Johannesburg came in at number seven for Africa and 550 in the world.
Uganda’s Makerere University is number eight in Africa, and 569 in the world, with a score of 48, followed by Egypt’s Ain Shams University with a score of 44,2 earning it ninth place in Africa and 685 in the world.
The tenth position goes to the University of the Western Cape, with a score of 42,5 ranking it at 745 in the world.
Wits University jumped 62 places from the 2015/16 BGU rankings. “We are truly appreciative of this recognition and it bears testament to the high quality research done by our researchers, scientists and students,” says Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, deputy vice-chancellor: research at Wits.
The BGU ranks institutions in more than 60 other countries based on 12 indicators that measure the institutions academic research performance and their global and regional reputations. The BGU rankings focus specifically on institutions’ academic research and reputation overall and not on their separate undergraduate or graduate programmes.
