UCT is the highest-ranked African university in the QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and its Commerce, Law, and Medicine Faculties are consistently placed among the hundred best internationally.
It is the only African member of the Global University Leaders Forum (GULF), within the World Economic Forum, which is made up of 26 of the world’s top universities. The language of instruction is English.
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University of Cape Town Ranking – World University Rankings 2019-2020
- Institution Name University of Cape Town
- Location South Africa
- World Rank : 223
- National Rank 1
- Quality of Education Rank 216
- Alumni Employment Rank 294
- Quality of Faculty Rank 187
- Research Output Rank 293
- Quality Publications Rank 299
- Influence Rank 190
- Citations Rank 254
- Overall Score 77.9
University of Cape Town Rankings 2019-2020
- 1st in Africa
(Times Higher Education 2020)
(Quacquarelli Symonds 2020)
(US News Best Global Universities 2020)
(Center for World Univeristy Rankings 2019-2020)
(Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019) - 136th in the world
(Times Higher Education 2020) - 198th in the world
(Quacquarelli Symonds 2020) - 121st in the world
(US News Best Global Universities 2020) - 252nd in the world
(Center for World University Rankings 2019-2020) - 201-300 in the world
(Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019)
UCT Raning news and updates
Two UCT subjects in top 100
The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been ranked among the top 100 globally for two subjects – clinical, pre-clinical and health, and social sciences – in the 2020 Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings by subject.
For clinical, pre-clinical and health, UCT moved up seven places from 72nd to 65th. In social sciences, the university dropped three positions from 89th to 92nd.
“Rankings aren’t – and cannot be – everything to everyone. And they certainly aren’t the only thing guiding or driving UCT’s research,” says Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation Professor Sue Harrison.
“But they are important as they do allow a window into how the rest of the world sees and positions us. And particularly in the case of clinical, pre-clinical and health, and the social sciences, we are doing exceptionally well on this global stage.”
THE launched its 11 subject rankings in four phases during October and November, and the last batch of results were released today.
THE bases its subject rankings on the same 13 performance indicators used in its world rankings, but the methodology is recalibrated to suit each field. It publishes exact positions only from one to 100. Thereafter, universities are ranked in broad bands.
The subject-specific tables follow the publication of the overall THE World University Rankings 2020 in September, in which UCT was ranked 136th – representing an improvement of 20 places.
Other subject rankings
Earlier this year, in the 2019 QS World University Rankings by Subject, UCT placed among the top 100 universities in a total of nine disciplines. For development studies, UCT moved up two places from 2018 and now occupies 9th position.
Eight other subjects at UCT were also ranked among the top 100 in these rankings: anatomy and physiology, anthropology, archaeology, architecture/built environment, education, geography, social policy and administration, and sports-related subjects.
UCT best in Africa in world rankings
The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been ranked 121st globally – and top in South Africa and on the continent – in the sixth edition of the US News Best Global Universities rankings.
The Best Global Universities rankings differ from most other widely recognised world university rankings because they focus solely on research. The methodology measures a university’s global and regional research reputation and academic research performance, using indicators such as publications, citations (the number of times a publication is referred to) and international collaboration.
Despite a slight improvement in the university’s overall score this year, UCT dropped seven places to 121st position. This is because scores are ranked which means performance is relative; if other institutions show better improvement in their scores, they displace their counterparts downwards in the rankings.
This year, 1 500 universities – up from 1 250 last year – were assessed by US News.
Top 100
In the Subject rankings, released simultaneously, UCT ranked in the top 100 globally for three subjects: immunology (56th), microbiology (72nd), and social sciences and public health (73rd).
Another nine subjects were ranked in the top 200: clinical medicine (110th), plant and animal science (113th), cardiac and cardiovascular systems (120th), environment/ecology (134th), arts and humanities (165th), geosciences (163rd), psychiatry/psychology (127th), space science (165th), and physics (152nd).
Cardiac and cardiovascular systems – in which UCT was ranked 120th – is one of six new subject areas introduced by US News this year. This brings the total number of subjects they rank to 28.
Each has its own methodology based on academic research performance and reputation, and is tailored to the different publication characteristics of that field.
Rankings of the year
UCT has done very well in global rankings this year. Just last month, the university climbed 20 places to 136th position in the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
UCT leads in Africa in all the five major world university rankings, the other three being Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings, ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities and the Center for World University Rankings.
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