Best universities in South Africa vs emerging economies
The Times Higher Education has published a list of the top universities in emerging economies, with two South African universities again featuring inside the top 10.
The BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017 includes only institutions in countries classified as ‘advanced emerging’, ‘secondary emerging’ or ‘frontier’ by the FTSE, including the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
For the first time the ranking includes 300 universities, up from 200 institutions in 2015, and 100 institutions in the previous two years. Two additional South African universities have been added to the list.
China once again dominates the list with 52 – or more than one in six – places. As many as 44 of these make the top 200, five more than last year, while six make the elite top 10.
India has also made great strides, with its flagship university, the Indian Institute of Science, breaking into the top 15 for the first time this year in 14th place.
However, the other BRICS nations are struggling, according to The Times Higher Education. While 11 of Brazil’s 25 representatives feature for the first time, the majority of the other 14 institutions have dropped places.
The country no longer has any representatives in the top 10 as the University of São Paulo slips four places to 13th.
Half of South Africa’s eight universities have slipped down the ranking.
Read: Ranking the 17 best universities in South Africa
Top SA universities
| 2017 | University | 2016 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | University of Cape Town | 4 | 55.2 |
| 8 | University of the Witwatersrand | 6 | 52.6 |
| 42 | Stellenbosch University | 11 | 34.9 |
| 58 | University of Kwa-Zulu Natal | 46 | 32.5 |
| 74 | University of Pretoria | =77 | 30.2 |
| =102 | University of the Western Cape | – | 26.8 |
| =141 | University of Johannesburg | – | 23.3 |
| 251-300 | University of South Africa | =197 | 13.7-17.2 |
The performance indicators are grouped into five areas:
- Teaching (the learning environment)
- Research (volume, income and reputation)
- Citations (research influence)
- International outlook (staff, students and research)
The indicators are re-calibrated to reflect the development priorities of universities in emerging economies.
UCT scores highly for Industry income and Citations – 88.8 and 87.3 respectively.
Wits scores full marks for Industry income, and 82.9 points for Citations. It falls down dramatically in teaching, with 26.4 points.
The other universities struggle to score above 50 points in each of the categories outlined in the research, with the exception of Stellenbosch which scores 53 points for Citations, KZN University which scores 59.4 points for International Outlook, Pretoria University for Industry income (63.2), and University of the Western Cape – 58.4 points for International Outlook.
Top 10 emerging economy and BRICS universities
| # | University | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peking University | China | 78.8 |
| 2 | Tsinghua University | China | 77.9 |
| 3 | Lomonosov Moscow University | Russia | 58.4 |
| 4 | University of Cape Town | South Africa | 55.2 |
| 5 | University of Science and Technology of China | China | 53.7 |
| 6 | Fudan University | China | 52.9 |
| 7 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China | 52.8 |
| 8 | University of the Witwatersrand | South Africa | 52.6 |
| 9 | Zhejiang University | China | 51.8 |
| 10 | National Taiwan University | Taiwan | 49.8 |
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