SA universities drop down global ranking

ShanghaiRanking Consultancy has published the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), listing the top 500 institutions globally, with fewer South African universities featuring than in 2017.

Harvard University tops the ranking list for the 16th year, followed by Stanford University and University of Cambridge. In fact, the top 10 list remains the same.

For the first time, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy also published a list of universities ranked between 501 and 1,000.

Universities from the US dominate this year’s top 500 list with eight universities among the top 10. The states also has 46 universities among the top 100 and 139 among the top 500. China has 62 universities ranked in top 500, among which three are in top 100.

The United Kingdom has 39 universities in the top 500 universities, and eight of them are also listed in top 100.

South African universities

For South African institutions, the University of the Witwatersrand remains the top-ranked university in the country, followed by the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch, and the University of Pretoria. These four universities are the only local institutions to be ranked within the top 500.

The University of Pretoria saw its rankings improve, climbing into the top 500, from the 501-600 list in 2017. The University of Johannesburg and the University of KwaZulu-Natal however, dropped out of the top 500, falling into the 601-800 category.

The North-West University (601-700 in 2017) was unchanged in 2018, but the University of South Africa (701-800 in 2017) dropped down the list.

South Africa is ranked 26th on the list in terms of the number of institutions featuring inside the top 100, behind New Zealand, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia.

Several local universities are back in the spotlight in recent days, due to protest turning violent, something of a running theme on campuses in recent years.

The Department of Higher Education said earlier this month that damages linked to Fees Must Fall protests between 2015 and 2017 cost universities almost R800 million.

The Fees Must Fall campaign began in 2015, with students calling for free higher education.

In 2015/16 universities reported damages amounting to R492.4 million, and in 2016/17, the cost stood at R237.7 million, and in 2017/2018 it was R56.5 million.

The rankings are based on the following criteria:

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