Respected global higher education experts, Times Higher Education (THE), have exclusively revealed a snapshot of what the first ever ranking devoted to African universities might look like.

The university rankings provider has revealed the top 15 universities in the region, based solely on their scores for research influence – in other words, how much African universities’ research papers are referred to and cited by other academics across the globe.

University of Port Harcourt

To be included in this future-gazing table, an institution must have published a minimum of 500 research papers in the five year period assessed with at least 50 papers per year.

The full table, which contains the top 30 universities in the region, will be revealed at the inaugural Times Higher Education Africa Universities Summit, which will take place on 30th and 31st July at the University of Johannesburg.

As the first major public consultation on the future THE Africa University Rankings, academic leaders and opinion formers will discuss plans for a full and comprehensive ranking for the region.

This new ranking will be based on Times Higher Education’s respected World University Rankings, but shaped following this initial meeting by bespoke metrics designed to meet the region’s specific challenges.

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The ‘snapshot’ table, based on just one of THE’s five respected World University Rankings criteria – research influence, gives a good indication of what a full university ranking might look like for Africa and sees two South African institutions – the University of Cape Town and the University of Witwatersrand – take first and second place respectively.

Here is the snap shot table;

African universities ranking using research criterion
A lone Ugandan university – Makerere University – bridges South Africa’s domination of the top five, taking third place.

This is followed by the University of Stellenbosch in fourth and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in fifth. University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria takes the sixth place and is the only Nigerian university among the top 15 showcased by Times Higher Education.

Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, said: “This is an experimental and preliminary ranking based solely on research, and only on one aspect of research – how many times research papers are cited by other academics. When we develop a full Africa University Ranking, we expect to add many more indicators, examining things like a university’s economic contribution, its civic engagement and of course its teaching. So the Africa Universities Summit presents the perfect opportunity to help shape this future ranking and to ensure that Times Higher Education develops the most appropriate and relevant ranking for Africa, in full consultation with African universities.”

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