Institutions from 10 countries feature in a top 30 that previews what a new ranking, being discussed at the Africa Universities Summit, might look likeSouth Africa dominates a snapshot of what a new ranking for African universities could look like, making up two-fifths of the institutions in the list.
Egypt is the second most-represented country, with six universities in the top 30 table, which was drawn up byTimes Higher Educationand measures research impact. Morocco and Tunisia both have three institutions making the running.
The top 30 snapshot was released asTHEholds its inaugural Africa Universities Summitat the University of Johannesburg, and builds on the top 15that was previewed earlier this year.
RankNameCountryAll publications (2009-13)Citation Score
1University of Cape TownSouth Africa
2University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa
3Makerere UniversityUganda
4StellenboschUniversitySouth Africa
5University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa
6University of Port HarcourtNigeri
7University of the Western CapeSouth Africa
8University of NairobiKenya
9University of JohannesburgSouth Africa
10University of Marrakech Cadi AyyadMorocco
11University of PretoriaSouth Africa
12University of GhanaGhana
13University of South AfricaSouth Africa
14Suez Canal UniversityEgypt
15University of Hassan II CasablancaMorocco
16Addis Ababa UniversityEthiopia
17Rhodes UniversitySouth Africa
18University of the Free StateSouth Africa
19North-West UniversitySouth Africa
20University of TunisTunisia
21Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de SfaxTunisia
22Université Mohammed V – AgdalMorocco
23American University in CairoEgypt
24Nelson Mandela Metropolitan UniversitySouth Africa
25South Valley UniversityEgypt
26Alexandria UniversityEgypt
27Assiut UniversityEgypt
28University of SfaxTunisia
29University of Yaounde ICameroon
30Minia UniversityEgypt
The Africa Universities Summit includes a consultation on proposals for a fullTHEranking for the region, building on the flagship World University Rankings. This would combine the citation scores from Elsevier’s Scopus database, used for this snapshot, with a wider range of performance metrics designed to meet the region’s specific challenges.
The University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand, both in South Africa, take first and second places respectively in the preliminary top 30.
In third place, a lone Ugandan institution – Makerere University – bridges South Africa’s domination of the top five, with Stellenbosch University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal taking fourth and fifth place respectively.
Speaking to the BBC World Service, Phil Baty, editor of the THE World University Rankings, said that the plan is to “develop more metrics to capture a wider range of activities at African universities”. This top 30, he continued, is designed “to get a conversation going”.
“Naturally what you find is the richer, better-funded universities in Cape Town and Johannesburg are more likely to attract and retain the leading scholars; they can offer slightly better terms and conditions and it means they are publishing higher quality work in higher quality academic journals,” he said.
The top 30 snapshot was calculated using the ratio of the citations received by an institution’s publication output between 2009 and 2013 and the total citations that would be expected based on the average of the subject field. To be included in the table, an institution must have published a minimum of 500 research papers in the five-year period assessed, with at least 50 papers per year.
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