UCT among top 40 international universities

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been ranked 39th in the recently released Times Higher Education (THE) list of the 200 most international universities. These institutions collaborate on research across the world, have a strong reputation globally and have a high proportion of international students and staff.

At 39th in the world, UCT’s position is tied with the California Institute of Technology, United States, in this latest release. The 10 most international universities – led by City University of Hong Kong (1st) and University of Hong Kong (2nd) – all came from four countries: Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

“While we realise there are limitations to ranking systems for measuring objectives as complex as internationalisation, this ranking is a very welcome sign of our excellent standing in this arena,” says Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation Professor Sue Harrison.

“We cannot achieve our ambitious research objectives and solve the continent’s complex problems without extensive global collaboration.”

“UCT strives to foster international collaboration across Africa and the rest of the world. Although our primary mission is always to serve our country and local context first, we cannot achieve our ambitious research objectives and solve the continent’s complex problems without extensive global collaboration and cross-pollination.”

The THE compiles its ranking of international universities using a subset of information collected for its World University Rankings 2020: the international student score, international staff score, international co-authorship score and international reputation metrics. Only institutions that received 100 votes or more in the international reputation survey and at least 50 votes or 10% of the available domestic votes were eligible for inclusion. UCT’s reputation votes showed a marked increase this year compared to last year when we lacked the minimum number to be included.

World rankings

In the THE World University Rankings 2020, released last year, UCT jumped up 20 places to 136th position, keeping the university in the top spot in the country, as well as on the continent. These annual rankings assess almost 1 400 institutions worldwide.

View the full list of the THE most international universities.