Crisis-hit UCT again crowned top varsity in Africa

It climbed 23 places up from 183rd place last year to now 160th globally.

Times Higher Education published the World University Rankings on Wednesday.

This year, 1 799 institutions across 13 performance indicators were assessed in areas of citations, research, teaching, international outlook and industry income.

The announcement comes as the institution has been going through governance challenges over the past few weeks.

In a statement released on Sunday, UCT Chancellor Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe said there have been engagements with various internal and external stakeholders.

"I’ve been engaging with various internal and external stakeholders to ensure that the respect and credibility that UCT enjoys globally – as an academic institution that upholds the highest standards of governance, transparency, ethics and accountability – is maintained and enhanced,” said Moloi-Motsepe.

The Institution's Chair of Council Babalwa Ngonyama has since called for an independent investigation, led by a retired judge, into the governance-related challenges.

UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng says the university is proud.

“We are deeply proud of our academics and the wider UCT community for the hard and excellent work they do that has led to this result.

UCT competes globally with institutions that have considerably more resources than we do, which makes this result all the more remarkable.

“As a university in the Global South, we are particularly pleased to retain our standing internationally while at the same time prioritising and serving the critical needs of the Global South and the people living here – priorities which are not usually recognised in global rankings.”