The Informatics Institute at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey has released a new ranking of the top 21 universities in South Africa.
The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) for 2022 differs from other commonly publicized rankings in that it includes institutions at all levels, notably those in poor countries.
It is the most complete look at higher education institutes (HEIs) in the country, with 21 South African universities making the list for the 2021/22 evaluation period.
The URAP ranking methodology prioritizes academic quality. The organization collected data on 3,000 HEIs, accounting for approximately 12% of all HEIs worldwide. A ranking is created from the over 3,000 universities and learning institutions evaluated based on several factors focusing on academic excellence.
Each HEI’s total score is based on various characteristics, including current scientific productivity, research impact, research quality, and international acceptance.
“Because URAP is an academic performance-based rating, publications serve as the foundation of the ranking algorithm.” The panel stated that “both the quality and quantity of publications, as well as the performance of international research collaborations, are evaluated as metrics.”
South Africa’s leading university, the University of Cape Town, fell down the global rankings in 2022, joining six other local institutions. The remaining 15 local institutions, on the other hand, all climbed the global ranking.
Five South African universities are among the world’s top 500, with UCT being the only one in the top 250. These are the universities:
University of Cape Town
University of the Witwatersrand
University of KwaZulu Natal
Stellenbosch University
University of Pretoria
In the South African rankings, Rhodes University has fallen below the University of South Africa and out of the top ten. Similarly, Tshwane University of Technology has fallen below Durban University of Technology, which is now ranked 13th in the country.
Both the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of Limpopo saw significant increases in their global rankings, but the former edged out the latter in the local rankings, moving them up to 16th overall.
| Local 2022 | Global 2022 | University | Score |
| 1 | 240 | University of Cape Town | 406.9 |
| 2 | 323 | University of the Witwatersrand | 385.24 |
| 3 | 358 | University of KwaZulu Natal | 375.39 |
| 4 | 377 | Stellenbosch University | 370.61 |
| 5 | 474 | University of Pretoria | 348.40 |
| 6 | 592 | University of Johannesburg | 323.27 |
| 7 | 611 | North-West University | 318.29 |
| 8 | 886 | University of the Western Cape | 274.14 |
| 9 | 927 | University of the Free State | 268.47 |
| 10 | 948 | University of South Africa (Unisa) [up] | 264.90 |
| 11 | 1130 | Rhodes University [down] | 246.58 |
| 12 | 1256 | Durban University of Technology [up] | 233.73 |
| 13 | 1367 | Tshwane University of Technology [down] | 222.82 |
| 14 | 1474 | Nelson Mandela University | 211.54 |
| 15 | 2053 | Cape Peninsula University of Technology [up] | 165.04 |
| 16 | 2068 | University of Limpopo [down] | 163.48 |
| 17 | 2292 | University of Fort Hare | 147.18 |
| 18 | 2340 | University of Venda | 143.81 |
| 19 | 2445 | Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University | 137.15 |
| 20 | 2738 | University of Zululand | 116.11 |
| 21 | 2947 | Vaal University of Technology | 101.83 |
