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South Africa loses ground in ‘emerging’ university ranking

No African universities in Top 10 for first time since 2014

South African universities are absent from the top 10 of the Times Higher Education ‘emerging economies’ ranking for the first time since 2014.

The emerging ranking differs from the main THE rankings in placing more emphasis on international outlook and industry income, and less weight on citations. Published on 19 October, it lists 700 universities in 50 countries defined by the London Stock Exchange as “emerging”.

The University of the Witwatersrand is South Africa’s and Africa’s highest placed in the 2022 ranking, in 15th place overall. That puts it ahead of the University of Cape Town for the first time in this ranking. UCT still leads South Africa and Africa in the THE main ranking.

Further down the list, other South African universities slip even further. Tshwane University of Technology fell more than 100 places from the previous year, while the University of Pretoria fell 37 places.

The University of South Africa was the lone South African university to improve its overall ranking, up to the 201-250 band from 251-300 the year before.

First-time entries

The University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a new entry, was fourth on the continent, taking 52nd place overall.

Tanzania also made the ranking for the first time with the University of Dar Es Salaam breaking into the bottom band, 501 and up.

Egypt is the African country with the most universities in the ranking. Of its 25 universities, Aswan University comes top in 115th place.

Chinese universities took the top five places overall, with Peking University in first place.