These are the best universities in Africa in 2016
South African universities feature amongst the top institutions in Africa, but worryingly many have dropped down the 2016 QS World University Rankings.
The University of Cape Town is the best ranked tertiary institution on the African continent, but has dropped as many as 20 places to 191st worldwide, while second place Wits has dropped 28 places to 359th.
Third on the list is the American University of Cairo, which has also slipped several places on the overall ranking.
Fourth placed Stellenbosch University, however, has climbed back into the top 400 – to 95th place‚ from the 401-410 band in 2015, and is well ahead of fifth ranked Cairo University.
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Top Universities in Africa
| 2016 | Country | University |
|---|---|---|
| 191 | South Africa | University of Cape Town |
| 359 | South Africa | University of Witwatersrand |
| 365 | Egypt | American University of Cairo |
| 395 | South Africa | Stellenbosch University |
| 551-600 | Egypt | Cairo University |
| 551-600 | South Africa | University of Pretoria |
| 551-600 | South Africa | Rhodes University |
| 601-650 | South Africa | University of Johannesburg |
| 651-700 | South Africa | University of Kwa-Zulu Natal |
| 701+ | Egypt | Ain Shams University |
| 701+ | Egypt | Al Azhar University |
| 701+ | Egypt | Alexandria University |
| 701+ | Uganda | Makerere University |
| 701+ | South Africa | North-West University |
| 701+ | Ghana | University of Ghana |
| 701+ | Kenya | University of Nairobi |
| 701+ | South Africa | University of the Western Cape |
Top Universities in South Africa
| 2016 | 2015 | University |
|---|---|---|
| 191 | 171 | University of Cape Town |
| 359 | 331 | University of Witwatersrand |
| 395 | 401-410 | Stellenbosch University |
| 551-600 | 501-550 | University of Pretoria |
| 551-600 | 501-550 | Rhodes University |
| 601-650 | 601-650 | University of Johannesburg |
| 651-700 | 501-550 | University of Kwa-Zulu Natal |
| 701+ | 701+ | North-West University |
| 701+ | 701+ | University of the Western Cape |
Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, said: “This year’s rankings imply that levels of investment are determining who progresses and who regresses. Institutions in countries that provide high levels of targeted funding, whether from endowments or from the public purse, are rising.”
“On the other hand, some Western European nations making or proposing cuts to public research spending are losing ground to their US and Asian counterparts.”
South Africa’s performance mimicked the global trend which stressed the importance of prolonged investment, said Sowter. He said that South African universities struggled due to funding shortfalls.
Seven of the nine SA universities measured by QS dropped in the rankings on academic reputation‚ and employer reputation.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the world’s top university for the fifth year, and is followed by Stanford and Harvard. Cambridge University and Caltech complete the top five list.
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The QSWUR is based on a mix of survey responses and hard data across six indicators, compiled and weighted to formulate a final score.
74,651 academics and 37,781 employers contributed to the rankings through the QS global surveys, the largest of their kind.
QS said it analyzed 10.3 million research papers and 66.3 million citations, indexed by Elsevier’s Scopus database. Over 3,800 institutions were considered for inclusion and 916 ranked.
The ranking’s biggest indicator, accounting for 40% of the total score, is based on academic reputation.
Academic reputation is measured using a global survey, in which academics were asked to identify the institutions where they believe the best work is currently taking place within their field of expertise.
The indicators and scores are:
- Academic reputation (40%)
- Employer reputation (10%)
- Student-to-faculty ratio (20%)
- Citations per faculty (20%)
- International faculty ratio (5%)
- International student ratio (5%)
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