University of The Free State World Ranking
| SA Rank | World Rank | University |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1049 | Rhodes University |
| 10 | 1071 | University of the Free State |
| 11 | 1248 | University of South Africa |
| 12 | 1357 | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
Rankings of universities in South Africa are largely based on international university rankings, since there are no South African rankings as of yet.
These international university rankings indicate that South Africa’s university system is the strongest on the continent: it is home to five of the six highest ranked African universities, including the two campuses consistently ranked as academically strongest in Africa, University of Cape Town and University of the Witwatersrand, which are situated in South Africa’s two most prominent cities (Cape Town and Johannesburg, respectively).
Highly cited international university rankings
In part because of the inherent difficulty of ranking complex educational institutions, there are an expanding number of competing international university ranking schemes, each with a different emphasis. Four of the most prominent are the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (most widely accepted), The Centre for World University rankings (CWUR),QS World University Rankings, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU, sometimes referred to as the “Shanghai Rankings”).
University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP)
URAP, which is a newer ranking scheme based solely on quantitative measures of academic productivity, includes data for a larger number of global universities, and thus gives an alternative view of the relative standing of more South African institutions.