universities
UCT ranks as the best university in South Africa. Image: canva

Home » New global ranking reveals best universities in South Africa

New global ranking reveals best universities in South Africa

The 15 best universities in South Africa was recently unveiled by US News & World Report’s Best Global Universities rankings. Here’s more…

universities
UCT ranks as the best university in South Africa. Image: canva

SA’s best universities ranked

US News & World Report’s Best Global Universities rankings have revealed which of South Africa’s universities are the very best of the best.

The list breaks down the Best Global Universities rankings by region, country and subject, aimed at helping applicants choose the best institution.

The rankings are based solely on institutions’ overall academic research and reputations. Which means undergraduate or postgraduate programmes are excluded from the comparison.

According to the rankings, the University of Cape Town is not only the best institution in South Africa, but in all of Africa too.

UCT ranks first in South Africa, with a score of 70 and a global ranking of 116. The University of Witwatersrand came second, with a score of 61.9 and a global ranking of 264. Wits also ranked as the second-best university in all of Africa.

Rounding out the top three was Stellenbosch University, scoring 60.0 and ranking 311 in the world. Stellenbosch ranked number four for Best Universities in Africa as well.

Harvard University in the United States of America took the number one spot globally, with a score of 100.0.

Top 15

There were 15 South African universities that made the list. Check them out below:

Local rankGlobal rankUniversityScore
1116University of Cape Town70
2264University of the Witwatersrand61.9
3311Stellenbosch University60.0
4357University of Johannesburg58.3
5401University of Kwa-Zulu Natal56.8
6439University of Pretoria55.8
7540North West University52.9
8726University of the Western Cape48.1
9861University of South Africa45.5
10912University of the Free State44.5
11953Rhodes University43.4
121 181Tshwane University of Technology39.8
131 223Durban University of Technology39.0
141 268Nelson Mandela University38.2
152 182University of Limpopo17.2