The Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) has released this year’s list of the top 2 000 universities in the world.

13 of South Africa’s universities featured in those 2 000, which is pretty decent, all things considered.

That picturesque view above is Wits University, but that’s not who came out tops in South Africa.

The rankings are unique in that they measure not only faculty prestige but the teaching and training of students as well.

BusinessTech reports that this year’s methodology was also upgraded to include learning environment and research.

CWUR’s rankings grade universities on seven factors:

• Quality of education (25%) – this refers to alumni who have won major international awards and medals.
• Alumni employment (25%) – measured according to the number of graduates who have held CEO positions at the world’s top companies relative to the university’s size.
• Quality of faculty (10%) – the number of academics who have won major international awards, prizes, and medals.
• Research output (10%) – the total number of research papers published.
• High-quality publications (10%) – the number of research papers appearing in top-tier journals.
• Influence (10%) – the number of research papers appearing in highly-influential journals.
• Citations (10%) – the number of highly-cited research papers.

Nearly 20 000 universities worldwide were analysed. The table below shows how those 13 South African universities ranked:

As you can see, UCT has retained the top spot in SA, which they took from Wits University last year.

Stellenbosch climbed from 5th in 2018 to third in 2019, pushing UKZN to fourth and University of Pretoria to fifth.

According to the CWUR, results have been mixed for local universities in 2019 with four of the top seven institutions, including the  top two, losing ground.

Dr. Nadim Mahassen, president of the  Center for World University Rankings, said: “It is a worrying time for  South African universities amid stiff global competition from well-funded universities.

I can tell you from experience that getting funding to study makes the Hunger Games look like a fun day at the park.

On to the global rankings:

Harvard retains the top spot for the eighth year in a row. MIT follows, achieving its highest position since 2012 by overtaking Stanford.

But the US, despite claiming eight of the top 10 places globally and  slightly improving overall relative to last year, sees the number of its  representatives in the worldwide top 1000 drop by 5% compared to five  years ago, down to 218 institutions.

The UK, while claiming the top four places in Europe and 63 places in the global top 1000, is also down in terms of the total number of its representatives in the top 1000 by 3% during the same time frame.

China has seen an increase in government funding which has, in turn, increased its representation in the world rankings.

In other words, if we want to compete, we need more funding from the government.

May the odds be ever in your favour.

[source:businesstech]