Photos: YouTube Screenshot\Wikimedia Commons
The University of Johannesburg has been ranked as sub-Saharan Africa’s best university, beating two historic rivals — the University of Pretoria and the University of the Witwatersrand — to the top spot.
The 2024 list by British magazine Times Higher Education (THE) places four South African universities in the top 10, two each from Rwanda and Ghana, and one each from Uganda and Somalia. Nigeria has 41 entries on the list, the most of any country.
Metrics used to compile the ranking included African research citations and co-authorship, accessibility for disabled people, and employability. These are metrics that “matter most to the development of nations south of the Sahara,” said the magazine’s chief global affairs officer, Phil Baty, in a statement.
THE’s ranking was based on a survey of 23,000 students, plus data from schools and Dutch academic analytics company Elsevier, the magazine said. The 129 universities are from 22 African countries, covering less than half of sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite its success, the University of Johannesburg is ranked in the 401-500 band in THE’s global list, where the top 10 are American and British universities.
