Top Universities In South Africa

The Center For World University Rankings (CWUR ) often features the top 100 universities in the world; it is a good starting point to learn more about a particular university. Here are the top 12 best universities in South Africa in 2022.

South Africa boasts of a number of universities that are ranked in the Global 2000 list. The CWUR assessed 19 788 institutions from around the world and these institutions made up the Global 2 000 list.

12 South African universities made this list and according to the list these universities would be ranked in South Africa as follows: 

1. University of Cape Town (UCT)
2. University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)
3. Stellenbosch University (SU)
4. University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
5. University of Pretoria (UP)
6. University of Johannesburg (UJ)
7. North West University
8. University of the Free State (UFS)
9. University of the Western Cape (UWC)
10. Unisa
11. Rhodes University
12. Nelson Mandela University (NMU)

South Africa’s universities are among the best in the world. They are ranked as top 50 in the world according to the QS University Rankings, and UCT, Wits, SU and UKZN ranked in the top 500 universities in the world.

The UCT ranked in the top 100 in the world and can be said as the best university.

CWUR ranked institutions using seven indicators grouped into four areas: 

• Education: this is measured by the number of a university’s alumni who have won major academic distinctions relative to the university’s size. 
• Employability: this is measured by the number of a university’s alumni who have held top executive positions at the world’s largest companies relative to the university’s size. 
• Faculty: this is measured by the number of faculty members who have won major academic distinctions. 
• Research: made up of:
  • Research output, measured by the total number of research articles. 
  • High-quality publications, measured by the number of research articles appearing in top-tier journals. 
  • Influence, measured by the number of research articles appearing in highly influential journals. 
  • Citations, measured by the number of highly cited research articles.