UCT ranks in top 1.4% of universities worldwide

The University of Cape Town (UCT) remains the best university in Africa and has been ranked 267th worldwide, up three places from last year, by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) in their 2023 Global 2000 list, which was published on 15 May.

CWUR releases the largest academic ranking of global universities. Out of the 20 531 institutions assessed, only the top 2 000 received a ranking, which places UCT in the top 1.4% of universities globally.

“UCT has once again proven its excellence in higher education by performing well in this prestigious world ranking. As a leading research-intensive institution, we will continue to strive to integrate excellent and impactful research, and to remain at the forefront of cutting-edge discovery and impact,” said Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation Professor Sue Harrison.

This ranking uses seven indicators grouped into four areas:

• education – measured by the number of a university’s alumni who have earned significant academic achievements, relative to its size (25%)
• employability – measured by the number of its alumni who have held top executive positions in the largest global companies, relative to the size of the university (25%)
• faculty – measured by the number of faculty members who have received top academic distinctions (10%)
• the research component, which counts for 40%, includes the following criteria:
  • research output – measured by the total number of research articles (10%)
  • high-quality publications – measured by the number of research articles appearing in top-tier journals (10%)
  • influence – measured by the number of research articles published in highly influential journals (10%)
  • citations – measured by the number of highly cited research articles (10%).

UCT’s highest ranked indicator is quality of education, which at 182nd position was down four places from last year. The alumni employment indicator (placed 224th) performed well and continued its climb, moving up 13 places compared to last year, which was also up 23 places on the previous year. The research performance indicator (ranked 245th) improved five places compared to last year.

The top three universities on this global listing are Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University, all in the United States.

Review the Center for World University Rankings 2023 Global 2000 list.

Read more about the methodology used by the Center for World University Rankings.