This is South Africa’s best ‘young’ university
A new report aims to highlight fast-developing young universities making a rapid impact on the global ranking tables.
Based on the latest edition of the QS World University Rankings, the QS Top 50 Under 50 ranks South African institute, the University of Kwazulu-Natal in the top 100 ‘young’ universities in the world.
Europe has 24 top-50 universities, and Asia has 13. Australia is the most-featured country in the ranking, with eight universities. The United Kingdom and Spain both have five.
The top university on the list, Nanyang Technological University, is ranked 13th best institution in the world overall, behind the usual suspects including: MIT, Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford, Caltech, and Oxford.
The 10th best ‘young’ university, is Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, in Spain, ranked 190th overall on the QS World University Rankings list.
Top 10 youngest universities
| # | Institution | Country | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore | 1991 |
| 2 | Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong | 1991 |
| 3 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | Korea | 1971 |
| 4 | City University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 1984 |
| 5 | Pohang University of Science and Technology | Korea | 1986 |
| 6 | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University | Hong Kong | 1994 |
| 7 | University of Bath | UK | 1966 |
| 8 | Maastricht University | Holland | 1976 |
| 9 | Universidad Autonoma de Madrid | Spain | 1968 |
| 10 | Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona | Spain | 1968 |
The University of KwaZulu-Natal was formed on 1 January 2004 as a result of the merger between the University of Durban-Westville and the University of Natal.
The University of Natal was originally founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, while the University of Durban-Westville was established in the 1960s as the University College for Indians on Salisbury Island in Durban Bay.
UKZN ranks behind five other South African universities on the overall QS list:
- 171 – University of Cape Town
- 302 – Stellenbosch University
- 331 – University of Witwatersrand
- 501-505 – Rhodes University
- 501-505 – University of Pretoria
University of Kwa-Zulu Natal is rated between 501-550, having come down from a ranking of between 601-650 in 2014. It is rated 68th best university in terms of Brics countries.
More on university rankings
New university rankings for South Africa
10 best universities in Africa in 2015
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