{"id":100488,"date":"2015-10-07T19:02:13","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T17:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=100488"},"modified":"2016-07-04T11:11:48","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T09:11:48","slug":"what-you-should-know-about-south-africas-5-best-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/100488\/what-you-should-know-about-south-africas-5-best-universities\/","title":{"rendered":"What you should know about South Africa’s 5 best universities"},"content":{"rendered":"

With five global university rankings released for 2015, an overview of where each ranked university placed shows which institutes are rated the best overall in the country.<\/p>\n

Having placed first in four of the five rankings, it’s no surprise that the University of Cape Town reigns as South Africa’s best university.<\/p>\n

The only ranking which did not place UCT at number one in South Africa was the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), which gave the honour to Wits.<\/p>\n

Wits placed a consistent second, although it lost out to Stellenbosch University for the first time in the Times Higher Education rankings, which placed the Joburg university third.<\/p>\n

Each global ranking uses different indicators with different final score weighting to determine the top institutes, and so\u00a0reflect different levels of excellence.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The index works on a score system, where\u00a0each ranked university is assigned points according to rank, relative to the number of universities listed.<\/p>\n

Thus, a university ranked sixth out of six\u00a0will have a reflectively lower\u00a0score (1.7 points), compared to a university ranked sixth out of nine\u00a0(5.5 points).<\/p>\n

If a university did not appear in a ranking, it receives 0 points.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
University<\/th>\nQSWUR<\/th>\nTHE<\/th>\nBGU<\/th>\nCWUR<\/th>\nARWU<\/th>\nScore<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Cape Town<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n2nd<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n9.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of the Witwatersrand<\/td>\n3rd<\/td>\n2nd<\/td>\n2nd<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n2nd<\/td>\n8.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stellenbosch University<\/td>\n2nd<\/td>\n3rd<\/td>\n3rd<\/td>\n3rd<\/td>\n4th<\/td>\n6.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>\n6th<\/td>\n4th<\/td>\n4th<\/td>\n4th<\/td>\n3rd<\/td>\n4.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Pretoria<\/td>\n5th<\/td>\n5th<\/td>\n5th<\/td>\n5th<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n2.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rhodes University<\/td>\n4th<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n1.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Johannesburg<\/td>\n7th<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n6th<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n1.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
North West University<\/td>\n8th<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n0.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of South Africa<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n6th<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n0.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of the Western Cape<\/td>\n9th<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n0.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The top 5<\/h3>\n

The top five universities have a combined 133,096 students in the 2015 academic year, and a combined academic staff contingent of 6,962. 12,277 – or 9.2% of all students are international students.<\/p>\n

While ranked as the country’s 5th university overall, the University of Pretoria accommodates far more students than any other university in the top 5.<\/p>\n

UP has 37,314 students, according to the data, including 3,122 international students. With total academic staff at 1,870, this equates to 20 students per staff member.<\/p>\n

The University of KwaZulu-Natal is the second biggest with 30,572 students, followed by Wits (23,321), Stellenbosch University (21,849) and finally UCT (20,040).<\/p>\n

On average, the top 5 universities have a student to lecturer ratio of 19:1. UKZN has the highest number of students per teacher (25), while UCT has the lowest (12).<\/p>\n

UCT had the highest number of international students, accounting for 30% of all foreign students. 18% of UCT students come from other countries.<\/p>\n

Students and Staff<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
University<\/th>\nStudents<\/th>\nInternational Students<\/th>\n% International<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Pretoria<\/td>\n37 314<\/td>\n3 122<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>\n30 572<\/td>\n1 715<\/td>\n5.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of the Witwatersrand<\/td>\n23 321<\/td>\n2 072<\/td>\n8.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stellenbosch University<\/td>\n21 849<\/td>\n1 753<\/td>\n8.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Cape Town<\/td>\n20 040<\/td>\n3 615<\/td>\n18.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n133 096<\/strong><\/td>\n12 277<\/strong><\/td>\n9.2%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Degrees<\/h3>\n

The BGU also provides data on the number of graduates from each university in 2014\/15.<\/p>\n

In total, there were 22,886 undergraduate degrees issued, 6,071 masters degrees, and 1,099 doctorates.<\/p>\n

Being the largest university by student numbers, there’s no surprise that the University of Pretoria accounts for the most graduates in each category.<\/p>\n

However, Stellenbosch university had the second highest number of masters and doctorate degrees.<\/p>\n

Undergraduate<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
University<\/th>\nDegrees<\/th>\n% of total<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Pretoria<\/td>\n6 509<\/td>\n28.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>\n5 543<\/td>\n24.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of the Witwatersrand<\/td>\n3 980<\/td>\n17.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stellenbosch University<\/td>\n3 544<\/td>\n15.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Cape Town<\/td>\n3 310<\/td>\n14.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n22 886<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Masters<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
University<\/th>\nDegrees<\/th>\n% of total<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Pretoria<\/td>\n1 476<\/td>\n24.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stellenbosch University<\/td>\n1 305<\/td>\n21.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of the Witwatersrand<\/td>\n1 219<\/td>\n20.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Cape Town<\/td>\n1 209<\/td>\n19.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>\n862<\/td>\n14.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n6 071<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Doctorates<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
University<\/th>\nDegrees<\/th>\n% of total<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Pretoria<\/td>\n242<\/td>\n22.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stellenbosch University<\/td>\n224<\/td>\n20.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of the Witwatersrand<\/td>\n221<\/td>\n20.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of KwaZulu-Natal<\/td>\n207<\/td>\n18.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
University of Cape Town<\/td>\n205<\/td>\n18.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n1 099<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For more details on the global university\u00a0rankings you can check out these articles:<\/p>\n