University ranking index: 2017’s best performing South African university
Six major university rankings have been published in 2017, each using their own indicators and criteria, weighted to represent what each believes is the most important factor showing excellence in tertiary education.
BusinessTech has compiled a rudimentary index to best represent how each South African institute has performed across all the rankings.
Only 16 South African universities featured among the major rankings released this year – one fewer than 2016. The University of Fort Hare dropped off, having missed the minimum requirements to make the University Ranking by Academic Performance for 2017.
Among the ranked universities, there has been little change, with the University of Cape Town still ranking at the top university in the country, overall, followed by Wits and Stellenbosch University.
One notable change in the index, was the University of the Western Cape’s climb above North West University and Rhodes, being included in the Times Higher Education rankings for the first time.
Ranking the best university in SA
Each global ranking uses different indicators with different final score weighting to determine the top institutes, and so reflect different levels of excellence.
Thus, the table below does not reflect the intricacies of each ranking, but serves to provide a “ranking overview” of how south African universities performed on the rankings released throughout the year.
For a more detailed look at each ranking, and how each university performed, you can see our coverage here:
- 2017/18 QS World University Rankings (QSWUR)
- 2017 University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP)
- 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
- 2017/18 Times Higher Education (THE) rankings
- 2017 Center for World University Rankings (CWUR)
- 2017/18 Best Global Universities (BGU) rankings
Index Methodology
The index below works on a 10-point score system, where each ranked university is assigned points according to rank, relative to the number of universities listed.
A university that ranked first, will automatically score 10 points, with the score for each subsequent rank decreasing relative to the total number of universities ranked.
Thus, a university ranked 5th out of 5 universities will have a reflectively lower score (2.0 points), compared to a university ranked 5th out of 10 universities (6.0 points).
If a university did not appear in a ranking, it receives 0 points. The final score is an average, across all six rankings measured.
| University | URAP | BGU | QSWUR | THE | CWUR | ARWU | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Cape Town | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 9.4 |
| Wits University | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 9.2 |
| Stellenbosch University | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 7.4 |
| University of KwaZulu Natal | 3rd | 3rd | 7th | 4th | 4th | 5th | 5.6 |
| University of Pretoria | 5th | 5th | 4th | 5th | 5th | – | 4.8 |
| University of Johannesburg | 6th | 6th | 5th | 6th | 6th | 4th | 4.5 |
| University of the Western Cape | 8th | 7th | 9th | 7th | – | – | 2.3 |
| Rhodes University | 9th | 9th | 6th | – | – | – | 2.0 |
| North-West University | 7th | 8th | 8th | – | – | – | 2.0 |
| University of the Free State | 10th | 10th | – | – | – | – | 1.0 |
| Unisa | 11th | 11th | – | 8th | – | – | 1.0 |
| Nelson Mandela Bay University | 12th | – | – | – | – | – | 0.5 |
| Tshwane University of Technology | 13th | – | – | – | – | – | 0.4 |
| University of Limpopo | 14th | – | – | – | – | – | 0.3 |
| Cape Peninsula University of Technology | 15th | – | – | – | – | – | 0.2 |
| Durban University of Technology | 16th | – | – | – | – | – | 0.1 |
Read: University fees in 2017: how much it costs to study in South Africa
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