The University of Johannesburg (UJ) continues with its upward trajectory in the world university rankings, having climbed an impressive 31 places in the latest Best Global University Rankings (BGUR). UJ achieved this feat despite South Africa’s universities largely slipping down the global rankings, with 13 local institutes ranked.
The results, released by the US News & World Report on Wednesday, 22 October 2019, show that UJ is only one of the three South African universities that have improved their rankings, along with the universities of Stellenbosch and North-West.
UJ is now ranked 366 – up from 397th, while the University of Stellenbosch is now ranked 329, up from 341 last year. North West University rose from 708th to 645th.
The results also show that UJ has fared well this year in their subject rankings, and is now ranked in six subjects (up from the three last year) – making debuts in Engineering (ranked at 404), Geosciences (ranked at 234), and Plant and Animal Science (ranked at 379).
Significantly, UJ’s Physics has climbed 52 places from global rank of 319 to 267 and has also made strides in the Social Sciences and Public Health subjects – climbing 14 places from a global rank of 310 to 296. This demonstrates UJ’s academic robustness and that it is on par with its global counterparts.
Meanwhile, the Tshwane University of Technology gained entry to the local ranking for 2020, coming in at 12th nationally (1,100th overall), pushing Nelson Mandela University to the bottom of the ranking at 13th.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) remains the top university locally, and in Africa, but has fallen from 114th position last year to 120th this year. UCT is followed by the University of Witwatersrand, which placed 200th overall, down from 197th last year. Other universities which saw a drop were the University of KwaZulu Natal (ranked 338th, down from 336th) and the University of Pretoria (441st, down from 427th).
UJ remains ranked at fifth place in the country. Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UJ, said: “This impressive feat follows UJ listing in the Top 10 in the world of Times Higher Education’s University Impact Ranking for Reduced Inequalities.
“These achievements demonstrates that the University is well on track in terms of establishing its global reputation as a place of research and academic repute.
“Both achievements in these global rankings affirms our endeavours to reposition our university for the fourth industrial revolution and prepare our staff and students as a skilled workforce for the jobs of the future.
“I am confident that given its now well-established focus as a University of the 21st century and beyond, UJ will continue on this growth trajectory and exceed expectations.”
Top 10 Universities in the world:
# Country University
1 United States Harvard University
2 United States Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3 United States Stanford University
4 United States University of California—Berkeley
5 United Kingdom University of Oxford
6 United States California Institute of Technology
7 United States Columbia University
8 United States Princeton University
9 United Kingdom University of Cambridge
10 United States University of Washington Seattle