In the 20th edition of the QS World University Rankings 2024, recently released on June 27th, a group of 41 African universities has been ranked, with five South African universities leading the pack. All five have shown improvement from the previous year and are among the top 500 institutions globally.

The University of Cape Town has claimed the top spot in Africa, now positioned at 173rd globally, a significant jump from its previous rank of 237th. The University of the Witwatersrand follows closely in second place on the continent, ranking 264th globally. Stellenbosch University has made a remarkable leap from 454th position last year to secure the third spot at number 283.

The University of Johannesburg, ranking fourth in Africa, has also improved its position, now placed at 306th globally compared to last year's 412th position. The University of Pretoria has made substantial progress, rising from the 591-600 bracket last year to 323rd position globally, securing the fifth position in Africa.

While South Africa has the highest number of highly ranked universities, Egypt leads with the largest number of ranked institutions, with 15 universities. South Africa follows closely with 11 institutions, an improvement from the previous year's nine universities. In total, 10 African countries are represented in the QS rankings, with Tunisia having four, and Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Sudan each having two. Ethiopia, Morocco, and Uganda each have one university represented.

An encouraging trend is that 75% of ranked African universities have shown improvement in the current edition, according to Simona Bizzozero, the communications director at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, the network responsible for producing the QS World University Rankings.

Some notable improvements include Cairo University, which has risen from the 551-600 category to claim the 371st position. The American University in Cairo has seen a slight improvement from 416th to 415th position. South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal has maintained its position among the top 1,000 universities globally and has moved up to the 621-630 category, securing the eighth position in Africa.

Ain Shams University in Egypt and North-West University in South Africa have secured the ninth and tenth positions on the continent, respectively, with improved rankings compared to the previous year.

The University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia stands out as the best-ranked university in Sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa, placed in the 852-900 bracket. Other universities that have made it into the top 1,000 include the University of South Africa (UNISA), Alexandria University in Egypt, Rhodes University in South Africa, Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Tunis El Manar in Tunisia, the University of Ghana, and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

Based on QS Quacquarelli Symonds datasets, there has been a significant increase in the number of African universities ranked in the top 1,000 this year, with 18 universities compared to 11 last year.

Additionally, eight universities fall within the range of 1,000-1,200. This group includes several Egyptian institutions such as Assiut University, Future University, Mansoura University, and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport. Also included in this range are the University of Nairobi in Kenya, the University of the Free State in South Africa, as well as Sfax and Sousse universities in Tunisia.

The second-largest African cohort in the rankings consists of 11 universities in the 1,201-1,400 band. This group comprises seven Egyptian universities, namely Al-Azhar University, British University, Helwan University, Suez Canal University, Tanta University, Zagazig University, and the German University in Cairo. Additionally, this category includes Kenyatta University in Kenya, the University of Tunis in Tunisia, the University of Khartoum in Sudan, and Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco.

Lastly, the African list concludes with four universities in the 1,401+ category. These include two Nigerian universities, Ibadan University and Lagos University, along with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, and the University of Science and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan.

The number of African universities included in the QS rankings has shown an increase, with 41 universities ranked this year compared to 32 universities last year. Several African universities that were not represented in the previous year's rankings have made it onto the list, including Kenyatta University, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, KNUST, University of the Free State, Sfax University, UNISA, and the Arab Academy of Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport.

The rankings are determined based on nine performance indicators, including academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, international student ratio, international research network, employment outcomes, and sustainability. QS has introduced or reinforced dimensions such as sustainability, employability, and international research collaboration for the first time.

To be considered for inclusion in the QS World University Rankings, universities need to provide evidence of the comprehensiveness of their degree programs. In the current edition, a total of 1,502 universities have been ranked. 

Globally, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has retained the top spot for the 12th consecutive year, followed by the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. The remaining universities in the top 10, in order, include Harvard University, Stanford University, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich-Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, University College London, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Source: University world news