These are the 9 best universities in South Africa
Times Higher Education has released its world university rankings for 2019, which includes 9 South African universities.
While the local ranking of South Africa’s top universities has remained mostly unchanged from the 2018 version, the country’s leading universities saw their global rankings improve.
The University of Cape Town climbed from 171st to 156th, while the University of Witwatersrand climbed from the 251-300 general bracket – breaking into the top 250 universities in the world. Stellenbosch University also moved into a higher placement range.
The 2019 ranking also saw the Tshwane University of Technology enter into the top 1000 – even climbing above the University of South Africa (Unisa) which actually fell out of the top 1000.
The other ranked universities – UKZN, UJ, UP and UWC – all remained within their placement range.
| Name | 2018 ranking | 2019 ranking |
|---|---|---|
| University of Cape Town | 171 | 156 |
| University of the Witwatersrand | 251-300 | 201-250 |
| Stellenbosch University | 351-400 | 301-350 |
| University of KwaZulu-Natal | 401-500 | 401-500 |
| University of Johannesburg | 601-800 | 601-800 |
| University of Pretoria | 601-800 | 601-800 |
| University of the Western Cape | 601-800 | 601-800 |
| Tshwane University of Technology | – | 801-1000 |
| University of South Africa | 800-1000 | 1001+ |
Global rankings
This year’s list is led by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge for the second year in a row.
Yale University is the only newcomer to the top 10 – joining at eighth place – up from 12th.
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s ETH Zurich has fallen out of this elite group, dropping from joint 10th to 11th place.
Tsinghua University is now the top university in Asia, after rising eight places to 22nd, becoming the first Chinese institution to lead the continent under the current methodology (since 2011). China as a whole has increased its standing, driven by improvements in citation impact.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan has overtaken the UK as the second most-represented nation in the world, with 103 institutions (the UK has 98).
There is also good news for France, which has a top 50 university for the first time since 2011, while several leading universities in Italy, Spain and Canada have risen.
Overall, 86 countries are represented, including Iraq, Jamaica, Nepal, Tanzania and Kazakhstan for the first time.
| Rank | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom |
| 2 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom |
| 3 | Stanford University | United States |
| 4 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States |
| 5 | California Institute of Technology | United States |
| 6 | Harvard University | United States |
| 7 | Princeton University | United States |
| 8 | Yale University | United States |
| 9 | Imperial College | United Kingdom |
| 10 | University of Chicago | United States |
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