Top Ten Universities in South Africa

In today’s article, you would see the top ten (10) universities in South Africa and what makes them so unique.

The educational sector of South Africa is admired by most African countries as it happens to be the one of the very best in Africa, with universities in South Africa topping almost all ranking systems of African universities.

In this article, the ranking system is based on the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities – a ranking system for the world’s universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web pages and files) and the visibility and impact of these web publications according to the number of external links (site citations) they received. (Wikipedia).

Also See: Top Ten Universities in Ghana

Without further ado, we present to you the list of the top ten universities in South Africa.

Top Ten Universities in South Africa

1. University of Cape Town:

The University of Cape Town does not only happen to be the best University in South Africa, but also the very best in Africa in the 2020 July edition of Webometrics Rankings, QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities. This public research university was founded in 1829 and formally established as a university in the year 1918. It is situated in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa and happens to be the oldest higher educational institute in South Africa.

The staff members of the university are A-rated NRF researchers. The university has 19 student’s hostels with over 28,600 students (17,552 undergraduates and 11,048 postgraduates) as at 2018. UCT, as it is mostly abbreviated, has various faculties which are – Faculty of Commerce, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Faulty of Law and Faculty of Sciences.

2. University of the Witwatersrand

Popularly known as Wits University or simply Wits, the University of the Witwatersrand is a public research university located in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It was founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberly, and happens to be the third oldest university in South Africa. The university has an enrolment of 40,259 students (63% of undergraduate and 35% of postgraduates) as of 2018, and has 17 hall residences.

The University of Witwatersrand was ranked the best university in Africa in the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), similarly, in 2014 and 2016, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) ranks Wits University as the best university in Africa. The university has 5 faculties – Sciences, Commerce, Law, Management, Engineering, Health, Sciences, and Humanities with 33 schools offering over 3000 courses.

3. Stellenbosch University

Stellenbosch University is the oldest university in South Africa together with the University of Cape Town which received full university status on the same day in 1918. Popularly abbreviated as SU, the university designed and manufactured Africa’s first microsatellite (SUNSAT) in 1999. Students of the university are nicknamed “Maties”, probably meaning “buddy” or “mate”. The university was ranked in the 251 – 275 in the world category by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. QS World University Rankings recently ranked the university at 390 and 3 in the world and in Africa respectively. Stellenbosch University is home to 29,000 students (including 4,000 foreign students from 100 countries).

The university has ten faculties: AgricSciences, Economic and Management Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Engineering, Military Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Education, Law and Theology. Eight of these faculties are on the main campus which is situated in the university town of Stellenbosch, in the heart of the Western Cape, while, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences is situated on the Tygerberg campus, adjacent to the Tygerberg academic hospital and the Faculty of Military Sciences.

The University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) and other postgraduate business and planning programmes of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences are located on the Bellville Park campus. The fifth campus is in Worcester which houses the Ukwanda Rural Clinical School of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences – in this school, medical and related health sciences students have the opportunity to complete their clinical training on a rural platform.

4. University of Pretoria

Established in 1908 as a multi-campus public research university in Pretoria, the University of Pretoria is the fourth South African institution in continuous operation to be awarded university status. The university has nine faculties and a business school, the University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science is the second oldest veterinary school in Africa and the only veterinary school in South Africa.

The university is popularly referred to as UP, Tuks or Tukkies and in post-nominals, the university is typically abbreviated as Pret or UP, although Pretoria is also used in official publications. University of Pretoria has seven campuses with the largest campus in the heart of Hatfield, the picturesque diplomatic hub of South Africa’s capital city. The university was ranked 4^th in Africa in the July edition of Webometrics Ranking.

5. University of Kwazulu Natal

The University of Kwazulu Natal was founded on January 1^st, 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville. The university has five distinct campuses and was ranked fourth in Africa by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the sixth by the QS World University Rankings in 2018.

The university has four colleges – College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, College of Health Sciences, College of Humanities, and College of Law and Management Studies, which are made up of several schools.

6. University of Johannesburg

Sitting at the sixth position is the University of Johannesburg – a public university situated in Johannesburg. The university was founded on 1^st January, 2005 as a result of the merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR), and the Soweto and East Rand campuses of Vista University. The university has four campuses, all located in the metropolitan area of the City of Johannesburg. UJ as it is popularly called, ranked 7^th amongst Africa’s universities, 5^th in South Africa, and ranked within the top 2.3% universities in the word in 2017/2018 of the QS World University Rankings.

The university has six faculties and a College of Business and Economics, the faculties are as follows – Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Faculty of Humanity, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment and the Faculty of Sciences.

7. University of South Africa

Popularly known as Unisa, the University of South Africa is the largest university system in South Africa in terms of enrollment. This institution attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa through various colleges and affiliation. The university boasts of a whopping number of 400,000 students, including international students from 130 countries worldwide, making it one of the world’s mega universities and the only such in Africa. UNISA has reputable and notable alumni, amongst which includes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu – the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Founded in 1873 as the University of the Cape of Good Hope, the university has thrived and become a mentor to other South African universities.

The university sits at the 7^th position in South Africa in the 2020 July edition of the Webometrics World Ranking, 6^th position in the South Africa in the 2015 ranking by the Times Higher Education World Ranking. The university has eight colleges – College of Accounting Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, College of Education, College of Economic and Management Sciences, College of Graduate Studies, College of Human Sciences, College of Law, College of Science, Engineering and Technology and the Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL).

8. University of the Western Cape

The University of the Western Cape popularly abbreviated as UWC is a public university located in the town of Bellville, close to Cape Town. The university was established in 1960 as a university for coloured people only but, was later became an integrated and multiracial institution before the apartheid in 1994.

In the 2014 Webometrics ranking, the institution was ranked 6^th best in South Africa, 7^th best in Africa and 885^th in the world, while in 2018 it was ranked 8^th in South Africa by the same Webometrics ranking system. The university has seven faculties – Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Education and Faculty of Natural Sciences

9. Rhodes University

Rhodes University is situated in Makhanda (Grahamstown), in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Established in 1904 as the province’s oldest university, and the sixth oldest South African university in continuous operation. The university became a constituent college of the University of South Africa in 1918 before becoming an independent university in 1951.

In 2015, the university had over 8,000 students, with 3,600 of which resides in the 51 residences available on campus. Rhodes University has six faculties – Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Commerce, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Education and Faculty of Pharmacy. The university ranked 9^th in 2020 and 5^th in 2011 in the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.

10. University of the Free State

Sitting at the end of this list is a multi-campus and public university, the University of the Free State. This university is situated in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State.

Established as an institution of higher learning in 1904. The university has various faculties – Economic and Management Sciences, Education, Health Sciences, Humanities, Law, Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Theology and Religion, Open Distance Learning and also a Business School. The university has an enrollment of over 37,000 students.