UCT in top 1.3% globally

The University of Cape Town (UCT) ranks 252 out of 20 000 universities worldwide, according to the most recent list from the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) for 2019–2020.

These rankings, published today, place UCT as the highest-ranking university in the country and on the continent, as well as in the top 1.3% of universities globally.

The CWUR, a consulting organisation, publishes the largest academic rankings of universities globally. It uses indicators to rank institutions without relying on surveys or university data submissions. These assess the quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty and research performance, which covers total number of publications, publications in top-tier journals, publications in highly influential journals and publications that are highly cited.

“These rankings place UCT as the highest-ranking university in the country and on the continent, as well as in the top 1.3% of universities globally.”

The quality of education and quality of faculty indicators are measured by the number of alumni and faculty members, respectively, who have won international awards, prizes and medals (from a narrowly prescribed list) relative to the university’s size.

The alumni employment indicator measures the number of alumni who have held chief executive officer positions in the world’s top companies (on the Forbes Global 2000 list) relative to the university’s size.

The top three universities according to the CWUR’s list were Harvard University, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University (all in the United States).

During June, UCT was also ranked the top university in Africa by the latest Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings.