UCT 24th in the world for infectious disease research

The University of Cape Town (UCT) remains the best university on the continent, according to the 2022–2023 US News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings released this week. UCT was also ranked in the top 100 for five subjects, including an outstanding position in the top 25 for infectious diseases.

The rankings place UCT at 125th position, tied with Sapienza University Rome, Italy. This represents a drop of 16 places from the previous rankings. This year, 2 000 universities were assessed by US News & World Report.

“[This ranking] reinforces our position as a continental as well as global leader in this subject area.”

The indicators used by this ranking includes those that measure global and regional research reputation and academic research performance, using bibliometric indicators such as publications, citations (the number of times a publication is referenced) and international collaboration.

Top 100 subjects

In the subject rankings, UCT was assessed to be one of the best places in the world (24th) to study infectious diseases, and was among the top 100 in four additional areas:

• immunology (51st)
• psychiatry/psychology (90th)
• public, environmental and occupational health (51st)
• social sciences and public health (tied 66th).

“As director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at UCT,” said Professor Valerie Mizrahi, “the university’s high position for infectious diseases in these latest rankings is particularly gratifying.

“It reinforces our position as a continental as well as global leader in this subject area. UCT is replete with world-class researchers focusing on tuberculosis (TB); HIV; HIV-associated TB; COVID-19; other viral, bacterial, fungal and helminthic infections; and diseases associated with antimicrobial resistance.

“A key feature of our ecosystem is the breadth and depth of research in understanding an intervening in infectious diseases and the flexible way we have organised ourselves to work at the intersection of the laboratory, the clinic and the community. This capability draws on UCT’s great strengths in immunology, microbiology, clinical medicine and public health.”

View the complete 2023 US News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings.

Find out about the methodology used by the 2023 US News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings.