UCT retains its spot among top 40 most international universities

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has maintained its position in the recently released 2021 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 is the only African university on the list, joining the University of Hong Kong (in first place), ETH Zurich (in second place), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (in third place) and University of Oxford (in fourth place), as institutions with the strongest global links based on their share of international students, staff and publications, as well as their international reputations.

“The global events of the past year have especially underscored the absolute necessity of continuing to work across borders and disciplines to solve complex challenges.”

Says Professor Sue Harrison, deputy vice-chancellor for Research and Internationalisation, “Though we have always fostered collaboration as a means to achieve our ambitious research objectives, the global events of the past year have especially underscored the absolute necessity of continuing to work across borders and disciplines to solve complex challenges. It is thus wonderfully gratifying to be recognised for our commitment to an internationally diverse teaching and learning research community.”

Methodology

The THE compiles its ranking of international universities using a sub-set of information collected for its World University Rankings 2021: the international student score, international staff score, international co-authorship score and international reputation scores. 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.

THE Subject Rankings

In October 2020, UCT was also ranked in the top 100 globally for clinical and health, in the 2021 THE rankings by subject. Both subjects tied at 66th position, while the university’s social sciences and education ranked in the 101 to 125 band.

View the full list of THE most international universities.