The University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) efforts to be the Pan African epicentre of critical intellectual enquiry was noted with it advancing into the Top 100 of the prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2018, which was released on Wednesday, 9 May 2018.
Ranked among the Top 100 at position 92, UJ in its second showing, moved up a tremendous 49 places from its 2017 rank position of 141, boosted by its improved performance in its scores across all five categories underlying the methodology. The ranking also sees UJ in the sixth position in South Africa.
Says Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, The Vice-Chancellor and Principal, UJ: “This is a significant achievement for the University, as UJ is one of the top 378 research-led universities in the 42 countries analysed. This ranking list the best universities outside the developed world by shining the spotlight on universities in countries classified by FTSE as either emerging or frontier economies, including the five BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.”
This ranking examines each university’s strengths against all of its core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook. It adopts the same set of performance indicators as the flagship world publication, with the corresponding weightings carefully recalibrated to better exhibit the characteristics and priorities of universities in developing economies, assigning greater emphasis to industry connections and internationalisation, and slightly lesser importance to research influence.
“UJ is proud of its performance being placed among the Top 100 universities. We take the view that global excellence and stature, on its own, should not dampen our drive for national and Pan African responsiveness, and it is our firm resolve to pursue these goals, simultaneously. The University invested heavily in the teaching and learning domain to make it possible for students from even the poorest backgrounds and schools to shine academically. Evidence of our strategic interventions is beginning to come to fruition. Our staff and students will continue to strive for excellence in teaching, learning, research and scholarship in our commitment to national and global imperatives. UJ remains committed to its national mandate of producing a skilled workforce, addressing issues of redress and equity and helping South Africa move from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy,” concludes Prof Marwala.