Webometrics published its global ranking of universities in 2025, with the University of Cape Town maintaining its top position and the University of Pretoria snapping up third place from Stellies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rankings were created and compiled by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, the largest public research body in Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are updated twice a year and are based on the quality, quantity, and access to web content provided by universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group noted that the ranking’s original aim was to promote Web publication, supporting open access initiatives and electronic access to scientific publications and other academic material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, though, web indicators have become a useful ranking tool because they are not based on things like the number of visits or specific webpage design, but rather on the global performance and visibility of universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group said that other rankings only focus on a handful of criteria, like citations and research results, arguing that web indicators provide a better ‘bigger picture’, taking into account many activities of professors and researchers which are only shown by their web presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crucially, the ranking is based not only on the universities’ websites but also on their webometric (all missions) and bibliometric (research mission) indicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Webometrics said that the rankings are mainly based on three core indicators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of its methodology and reach, the ranking is also able to assess a massive number of tertiary institutions, going beyond universities into colleges and technicians, et al.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2025 ranking listed over 31,360. We have focused only on the 26 public universities in South Africa. We have also compared the year-on-year results, looking at the global positioning in January 2024 vs January 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, the ranking for South Africa has remained fairly static with the University of Cape Town retaining its top position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were some shifts, however, with the University of Pretoria pipping Stellenbosch University for the third position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most universities (16 of 26) improved their global standings, including the top-ranked ones, which were all up from the start of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eight universities in South Africa were ranked among the top 1000, but only the top four universities ranked among the top 500 in the overall listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first university ranking for 2025 is out, and South Africa’s institutes have seen some big climbs – as well as a fight for third spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":775415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[21573,6896,8389,8393,5650],"class_list":["post-809019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-consejo-superior-de-investigaciones-cientificas","tag-stellenbosch-university","tag-university-of-cape-town","tag-university-of-pretoria","tag-wits-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809019"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":809084,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809019\/revisions\/809084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Local<\/strong><\/td> University<\/strong><\/td> Jan 2024<\/strong><\/td> Jan 2025<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> University of Cape Town<\/td> 256<\/td> 255<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 2<\/td> University of the Witwatersrand<\/td> 395<\/td> 383<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 3<\/strong><\/mark><\/td> University of Pretoria<\/td> 445<\/td> 431<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 4<\/td> Stellenbosch University<\/td> 442<\/td> 437<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 5<\/td> University of Johannesburg<\/td> 613<\/td> 545<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 6<\/td> University of KwaZulu Natal<\/td> 597<\/td> 576<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 7<\/td> University of South Africa<\/td> 797<\/td> 732<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 8<\/td> University of the Western Cape<\/td> 928<\/td> 937<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 9<\/td> University of the Free State<\/td> 1 087<\/td> 1 069<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 10<\/td> Rhodes University<\/td> 1 150<\/td> 1 127<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 11<\/td> North-West University<\/td> 1 699<\/td> 1 718<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 12<\/td> Tshwane University of Technology<\/td> 1 814<\/td> 1 792<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 13<\/td> Durban University of Technology<\/td> 2 855<\/td> 1 816<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 14<\/td> Cape Peninsula University of Technology<\/td> 1 653<\/td> 1 999<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 15<\/td> University of Fort Hare<\/td> 2 333<\/td> 2 434<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 16<\/td> University of Limpopo<\/td> 2 694<\/td> 2 631<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 17<\/td> Nelson Mandela University<\/td> 2 730<\/td> 2 898<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 18<\/td> Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University<\/td> 3 058<\/td> 2 912<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 19<\/strong><\/mark><\/td> University of Zululand<\/td> 3 025<\/td> 2 914<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 20<\/td> University of Venda<\/td> 2 891<\/td> 2 979<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 21<\/td> Vaal University of Technology<\/td> 3 208<\/td> 3 387<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 22<\/strong><\/mark><\/td> Walter Sisulu University<\/td> 3 600<\/td> 3 459<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 23<\/td> Central University of Technology<\/td> 3 421<\/td> 3 494<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 24<\/strong><\/mark><\/td> University of Mpumalanga<\/td> 7 759<\/td> 7 973<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 25<\/td> Mangosuthu University of Technology<\/td> 7 480<\/td> 8 241<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 26<\/td> Sol Plaatjie South Africa<\/td> 8 574<\/td> 8 556<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"