The University of Cape Town (UCT) has come out on top in Africa according to ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2021. Published on 15 August 2021, it ranks among the 200 – 300 level.

The criteria are marked against five major world university rankings, all of which UCT currently leads in Africa: Times Higher Education (THE), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), US News & World Report Best Global Universities, and ARWU.

1 800 universities across six key indicators are assessed by the ARWU while only the best 1000 are published.

“UCT’s continued pursuit for excellence has seen the university continuing to rank among the top institutions in the world,” said UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng. “We are proud to continue being in such a strong position, one we are working to harness for further impact on the continent and beyond.”

“Although it is not usually accounted for in international university rankings, like this one, UCT strongly values its positive impact on society. And by placing transformation and sustainability at the core of our vision for the future, we are working to pursue these in parallel with excellence,” said Phakeng.

UCT Houses Top Researchers

This year, UCT regained the top score in the country in the ARWU highly cited researchers indicator, which contributes 20% of the total weighting, with three UCT researchers included in the list: Emeritus Professor William Bond, Professor Vicki Lambert, and Professor Dan Stein.

The list of Highly Cited Researchers, released annually by Clarivate Analytics, identifies researchers who have demonstrated significant influence through the publication of multiple highly cited papers on the Web of Science during the past decade.

In addition to the highly cited researchers indicator, there are five other indicators used by ARWU: the number of alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (10%), the number of staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (20%), papers published in Nature and Science (20%), papers indexed in major citation indices (20%), and the per capita academic performance of an institution (10%).

-Naadiya Adams