Want to get the best higher education in Nigeria? Then, see the top 30 African universities in the Times Higher Education snapshot university ranking.
Institutions from 10 countries feature in a top 30 that previews what a new ranking, discussed at the Africa Universities Summit, might look like.
South 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 by Times Higher Education and measures research impact. Morocco and Tunisia both have three institutions making running.
Table of contents
Top 30 African Universities
The top 30 snapshots were released as THE holds its inaugural Africa Universities Summit at the University of Johannesburg and builds on the top 15 that were previewed earlier this year.
| Rank | Name | Country | All publications (2009-13) | Citation Score |
| 1 | University of Cape Town | South Africa | 5540.21 | 99.90 |
| 2 | University of the Witwatersrand | South Africa | 4387.17 | 99.76 |
| 3 | Makerere University | Uganda | 1112.69 | 99.72 |
| 4 | Stellenbosch University | South Africa | 4357.33 | 95.48 |
| 5 | University of KwaZulu-Natal | South Africa | 4235.09 | 89.41 |
| 6 | University of Port Harcourt | Nigeria | 573.55 | 88.92 |
| 7 | University of the Western Cape | South Africa | 1154.77 | 84.61 |
| 8 | University of Nairobi | Kenya | 671.72 | 84.60 |
| 9 | University of Johannesburg | South Africa | 2192.74 | 83.64 |
| 10 | University of Marrakech Cadi Ayyad | Morocco | 910.82 | 78.61 |
| 11 | University of Pretoria | South Africa | 4544.33 | 75.89 |
| 12 | University of Ghana | Ghana | 804.53 | 73.31 |
| 13 | University of South Africa | South Africa | 981.67 | 72.51 |
| 14 | Suez Canal University | Egypt | 998.98 | 69.69 |
| 15 | University of Hassan II Casablanca | Morocco | 960.25 | 69.03 |
| 16 | Addis Ababa University | Ethiopia | 893.90 | 64.84 |
| 17 | Rhodes University | South Africa | 1296.96 | 64.54 |
| 18 | University of the Free State | South Africa | 1512.56 | 62.83 |
| 19 | North-West University | South Africa | 1707.94 | 60.75 |
| 20 | University of Tunis | Tunisia | 879.63 | 57.26 |
| 21 | Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax | Tunisia | 822.31 | 57.24 |
| 22 | Université Mohammed V – Agdal | Morocco | 1503.69 | 56.85 |
| 23 | American University in Cairo | Egypt | 700.89 | 56.40 |
| 24 | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University | South Africa | 885.77 | 53.29 |
| 25 | South Valley University | Egypt | 636.85 | 52.49 |
| 26 | Alexandria University | Egypt | 2550.15 | 52.24 |
| 27 | Assiut University | Egypt | 1588.64 | 50.41 |
| 28 | University of Sfax | Tunisia | 2355.30 | 49.79 |
| 29 | University of Yaounde I | Cameroon | 876.33 | 49.72 |
| 30 | Minia University | Egypt | 694.79 | 48.36 |
The Africa Universities Summit includes consultation on proposals for a full THE ranking 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 in South Africa take first and second place in the preliminary top 30.
In third place, alone 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 World University Rankings, said 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 snapshots were calculated using the ratio of the citations received by an institution’s publication output between 2020 and 2023 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 at least 500 research papers in the five years assessed, with at least 50 papers per year.
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