UCT’s reputation among the top 200 globally

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been ranked among universities with the highest reputation in the world for the first time.

UCT placed in the 176–200 band according to the latest Times Higher Education (THE) 2022 World Reputation Rankings released on 16 November.

The top 200 institutions are the best in research and teaching, according to an opinion survey administered by THE and targeted at experienced, published scholars.

“This year has been exceptional for UCT in terms of its international rankings,” said UCT Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation Professor Sue Harrison. “We have not only continued to maintain our position as the best institution on the continent in all the major world rankings, but also improved our performance in a few areas – including this one.

“We understand that rankings such as this give only an imperfect snapshot of a university’s success – for instance, researchers whose output is mainly devoted to working with local communities do immensely important work that is not necessarily visible to the international academic community – but we do pay attention to them because they reflect how we are seen and positioned by the rest of the world and can influence important decisions such as funding and research collaborations.”

“This year has been exceptional for UCT in terms of its international rankings.”

UCT is the only university in Africa on the list. Three institutions in the United States top the listing: Harvard University (first), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (second) and Stanford University (third).

Methodology

Only experienced, published scholars are invited to participate in THE’s reputation survey. They are asked for their views on excellence in research and teaching within their disciplines and at institutions with which they are familiar.

For the 2022 rankings, THE received a total of 29 606 responses from 159 countries.

THE calculates scores for this ranking based on the number of times an institution is named by respondents as being one of the best in their field. The number one institution is the one selected most often and it receives a score of 100. The scores for all other institutions in the table are expressed as a percentage of this institution’s score.

This year, as in the previous two years, THE published only the top 200 universities; previously, only the top 100 was published. The top 50 institutions receive scores. 

UCT’s world university and subject rankings

In the latest THE World University Rankings released in October, UCT jumped up to 160th (23 places higher than the previous year) and retained the top spot in Africa.

In the THE subject rankings, UCT tied at 77th for clinical & health. Four additional UCT subjects performed very well, placing among the top 200 globally: social sciences (101–125 band); and education, law and life sciences (all three in the 151–175 band).

View the complete list of universities in the THE World Reputation Rankings 2022.

Find out more about the methodology used by the THE World Reputation Rankings 2022.