Scientific influence and research output key drivers as Unisa’s global rankings improve

For some years now, Unisa has been steadily moving up the rankings in the world’s most authoritative surveys. The trend continues, as evidenced by two recently released global rankings: the SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) and the Center for World Universities Rankings (CWUR).

Increased scientific influence

The main purpose of SIR is to measure scientific influence. The following are key highlights from the 2026 results:

• The ranking includes 5 491 universities, an increase of 8,7% from the 5 051 universities ranked in 2025. In the Institutional ranking, Unisa improved its ranking to 2 768^th in 2026 compared to jointly 2 865^th in 2025, despite an increase in the number of institutions ranked.
• Further, Unisa was ranked 913^th overall out of 5 491 universities in the 2026 University ranking, compared to jointly 1 005^th out of 5 051 universities in 2025, again scoring in the upper quartile and an improvement despite the increased number of universities ranked. This places Unisa eighth out of the 25 South African universities included in the ranking and third among the 19 ODeL universities ranked.
• For Research, Unisa was ranked 1 153^rd compared to jointly 1 248^th in 2025, also an improvement despite the increased number of universities. This placed Unisa eighth out of the 23 South African universities for Research and third among the 19 ODeL universities.
• For Research, Unisa was ranked 1 153^rd compared to jointly 1 248^th in 2025, also an improvement despite the increased number of universities. This placed Unisa eighth out of the 23 South African universities for Research and third among the 19 ODeL universities (in 2025 also third but out of 15 universities). In general, South African universities performed better than most universities from the rest of Africa for Research.
• Like most South African universities, Unisa again performed excellently for Societal impact and was 279^th in 2026 compared to 341^st in 2025 and 349^th (jointly) in 2024. This placed Unisa fifth among the South African universities, compared to seventh in 2025, and first among the 19 ODeL universities, compared to eighth out of 14 universities in 2025. Furthermore, Unisa was ranked 651^st among all institutions, compared to 706^th in 2025.

Marked research improvement

CWUR publishes only academic rankings of global universities. Although the rankings mainly focused on Research (40%), they also included rankings for Education (25%), Employability (25%), and Faculty (10%).

Key highlights from the 2026 results were:

• A total of 21 291 universities were ranked in the 2026 ranking, compared to 21 462 in the 2025 ranking. Of these, only the top 2 000 are published, which represent the cream of universities (approximately the top 10%).
• In 2026, a total of 64 African universities were among the top 2 000 universities worldwide, of which 12 were South African universities, including Unisa in the 1 143^rd global position.
• Five ODeL universities were included in the top 2 000 universities, among which Unisa was placed second globally.
• Unisa was one of only three South African universities that improved their scores from 2025.
• Unisa also improved its relative position in the country from 10^th in 2025 to 8^th in 2026.
• In the performance areas, Unisa was also among the top 2 000 universities worldwide in terms of Employability and Research.

Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor

The university’s upward trajectory, as outlined above, is very much a result of the vision Professor Puleng LenkaBula has been spearheading as Principal and Vice-Chancellor for the past five years, as well as the ten catalytic niche areas (CNAs) the university has adopted under her guidance.

“My intention as a leader at Unisa is not just to bring new ideas, but to reaffirm the university’s excellence in research and innovation, as well as the global impact of the institution,” she recently said when commenting on the CNAs. “Unisa’s researchers across all its colleges saw the importance of institutionalising research that supports the CNAs, and these areas contribute to rethinking and reclaiming Africa’s futures.” 

Read also:

Seeing beyond the horizon: Unisa shapes tomorrow as it expands its research outputs significantly

* Analysis by Herman Visser, Department of Institutional Intelligence, article by Philip van der Merwe, Department of Institutional Advancement