Top 100: UCT rises in Medical and health and Education Studies

The latest Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by subject showed improvements for the University of Cape Town (UCT), which placed at 78th for Medical and Health and tied 91st for Education Studies. The university also ranked in the 101–125 band for both Law and Social Sciences. Life Sciences was also placed in the top 175.

UCT’s acting deputy vice-chancellor for Research and Internationalisation, Professor Jeff Murugan, said: “The university’s Faculty of Health Sciences aims to be a centre of excellence that is locally relevant and globally competitive. This goal is realised in various ways, including the faculty being embedded in the communities it serves, through relationship building and collaborating within these spaces. UCT’s research and clinical practice is at the forefront of various medical innovations, facilitated not only by the diverse expertise of our medical community, but also the world-class infrastructure which makes this critical work of the proactive achievement of optimal health for our citizens possible.

“We are proud of our colleagues in Education studies, Law, Social sciences and Life sciences whose commitment and hard work continue to drive excellence – a core pillar of the university,” he said.

THE issues exact positions for only the top 100 in each of its 11 subjects. Thereafter, universities are ranked in broad bands.

In the Top 100

• Medical and health at 78th position (up from 81st)
• Education studies tied at 91st position (up from 92nd)

In the Top 200

• Law in the 101 - 125 band (up from the 126–150 band)
• Social sciences in the 101–125 band
• Life sciences in the 151–175 band

THE bases its subject rankings on the same 18 performance indicators used in their world university rankings, which are grouped into five main pillars of evaluation:

1. Teaching: evaluates teaching reputation, student-to-staff ratio, doctorate-to-bachelor ratio, doctorate-to-staff ratio and institutional income.
2. Research Environment: focuses on research reputation, income, and productivity.
3. Research Quality: includes citation impact, research strength, research excellence, and influence.
4. Industry: measures income from industry partnerships and patents.
5. International Outlook: accounts for international students, staff and co-authorship.

Two of the subject rankings have new names for 2025: Medical and Health (formerly Clinical and Health) and Education Studies (formerly Education). These are changes in name only; the rankings are based on the same subject areas as in previous years.

These subject rankings follow the publication of the THE’s 2025 World University Rankings in October 2024, in which UCT placed 180th out of more than 2 000 universities.

QS subject rankings

In April 2024, the 2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject placed UCT among the  top 100 universities in four subjects. Both anthropology and geography were placed in the 51–100 band, medicine (89th), and development studies – UCT’s top subject – placed 15th.

Read more about the 2025 THE World University Rankings by subject methodology and see the full rankings here:

Best Global Universities Rankings.

Best Global Universities Subject Rankings.