South African varsities sparkle as UI, UNILAG make top 10 best in Africa
By Emma Ogbuehi
When it comes to university education in Africa, South Africa maintains the lead while other countries come a distant second.
This fact emerged yet once again as The Times Higher Education released the 2023 World University rankings across 104 countries and regions.
Ten African universities have been ranked top in the 2023 list, out of which four are from South Africa.
The University of Cape Town ranks number one in the list of African best universities while Stellenbosch University and the University of Witwatersrand rank second and third respectively. All three are South African universities.
In the eighth position is University of KwaZulu-Natal, also based in South Africa.
READ ALSO: Sall taking ECOWAS from frying pan to fire
University of Ibadan comes seventh in Africa while the University of Lagos takes the ninth position.
Globally, the University of Oxford tops the ranking for the eighth year in a row, but others in the top five have seen shifts in their ranks.
Harvard University moves up to second place, pushing the University of Cambridge down to third.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 include 1,799 universities, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.
This year’s ranking analysed over 121 million citations across more than 15.5 million research publications and included survey responses from 40,000 scholars globally.
Here is a list of Africa’s best Universities
1. University of Cape Town
2. Stellenbosch University
3. University of Witwatersrand
4. University of Cape Coast
6. Ferhat Abbas Sétif University
7. University of Ibadan
8. University of KwaZulu-Natal
9. University of Lagos
10. Muhimbili University
The University of Cape Coast, which occupies the fourth position in Africa, is a public collegiate university located in the historic town of Cape Coast in the central region of Ghana.
The fifth, Aswan University, is university located in Aswan, Egypt. Established in 2012, it was previously known as the Aswan branch of the South Valley University.
The University Ferhat Abbas of Setif “Université Ferhat Abbas de Sétif (UFAS)” in the sixth position is a university located in Setif, Algeria. It was founded in 1978.
Ferhat Abbas Setif University is ranked 1201 in World University Rankings by Times Higher Education and has an overall score of 3.3 stars, according to student reviews on Studyportals, the best place to find out how students rate their study and living experience at universities from all over the world.
Africa’s tenth best university, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, which is a public university, is located in Upanga West, Ilala District of Dar es Salaam Region in Tanzania.