UCT leaps to 31st in the world for sport science

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been placed 31st in the world and top in Africa in ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Sport Science Schools and Departments. UCT jumped up 18 places from 49th position in the 2022 ranking to 31st in 2023.

First published in 2016, this ranking highlights the performance of more than 300 universities, among which 15 are now sports universities and 285 have sport-related units. Of these, 42 universities have more than one sport-related institution or unit.

“UCT has long been an international leader in the field of sport science, and many elite athletes owe their success at least partly to innovations pioneered by our researchers,” said Professor Sue Harrison, deputy vice-chancellor for Research and Internationalisation.

“We owe our impressive standing in this ranking to this committed team of researchers, scientists, and eager postgraduates at the Research Centre for Health through Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Sport (HPALS),” Professor Harrison added.  “At the same time, HPALS is increasingly focused on its work with communities, addressing the many non-communicable diseases that arise from lack of access to physical activity and a healthy diet. This type of work is generally not reflected in rankings but is equally important.”

“UCT has long been an international leader in the field of sports science, and many elite athletes owe their success at least partly to innovations pioneered by our researchers.”

The ranking’s 2023 methodology assesses universities according to several indicators, including papers indexed in Web of Science (10%), total citations (20%), citations per paper (30%), papers published in the top 25% of journals (30%), and the percentage of papers with international co-authorship (10%).

“We are fortunate to collaborate with outstanding colleagues, locally, nationally and globally. We are a small, committed and passionate group of researchers who strive to make a difference in human health, mobility and performance,” said Professor Vicki Lambert, the outgoing director of HPALS.

Other top performances by UCT

In 2023, UCT performed strongly once again and is leading in Africa in all five major world university rankings: Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), the ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and the US News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings.

View the complete ShanghaiRanking’s 2023 Global Ranking of Sport Science Schools and Departments.

Read more about the ranking’s methodology.