South Africa dominates the latest ranking of universities in Southern Africa.
Nine of the region’s top 10 universities are in South Africa. The University of Cape Town (UCT) takes first place.
The ranking comes from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027. Business Insider Africa highlighted the results in its latest regional list.
UCT leads universities in Southern Africa
UCT is the highest-ranked university in Southern Africa. It is also ranked 147th in the world.
The university received an overall score of 62.4. Its strongest result was for research quality, with a score of 88.4.
UCT also scored 79.4 for industry and 77.7 for international outlook.
Meanwhile, the University of the Witwatersrand, also known as Wits, ranks second in the region. It sits in the 301–325 global ranking group.
Stellenbosch University comes third. It ranks between 326 and 350 globally.
South Africa takes nine of the top 10 places
South African universities continue to dominate the rest of the list.
The University of Johannesburg is fourth. The University of Pretoria follows in fifth place.
Next is the University of KwaZulu-Natal in sixth place. The University of the Western Cape ranks seventh.
North-West University takes eighth place. Meanwhile, Durban University of Technology ranks ninth.
As a result, South Africa holds nine of the region’s top 10 positions.
Malawi also makes the top 10
Malawi is the only other country represented in the top 10.
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences takes 10th place. It ranks between 1201 and 1400 globally.
The public university was established in 2019. It was created after the College of Medicine and Kamuzu College of Nursing were separated from the University of Malawi and merged.
Its Faculty of Medicine is Malawi’s only medical school.
Top 10 universities in Southern Africa
- University of Cape Town, South Africa — 147
- University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa — 301–325
- Stellenbosch University, South Africa — 326–350
- University of Johannesburg, South Africa — 351–375
- University of Pretoria, South Africa — 451–500
- University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa — 501–550
- University of the Western Cape, South Africa — 701–800
- North-West University, South Africa — 801–1000
- Durban University of Technology, South Africa — 1201–1400
- Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi — 1201–1400
The 2027 ranking assessed 2,297 universities in 118 countries and territories.
It looked at several areas. These included teaching, research, research quality, industry links and international outlook.