Top 900 global university ranking for Unisa

US News & World Report has published its 2022 Best Global Universities rankings, which includes a list of the top 13 tertiary learning institutions in South Africa – 10 of which, including Unisa, are ranked among the top 900 in the world.

For the second consecutive year, the rankings placed Unisa at 9^th in the country and 851^st globally, up from 921^st in the previous year.

Nine SA universities saw their global position improve, while four dropped down the ranking.

The overall ranking encompasses 1 750 top institutions, up from nearly 1 500 last year, and spread across more than 90 countries, up from 86 last year.

The University of Cape Town remains the top university locally and in Africa. However, it dropped from its highest point on the listing at 103^rd, to 109th.

The Best Global Universities rankings are entirely based on schools’ academic research performance, such as highly cited papers, and global and regional research reputations.

The 13 indicators the group looks at (and their weightings) are:

• Global research reputation – 12.5%
• Regional research reputation – 12.5%
• Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited – 12.5%
• Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited – 10%
• Publications – 10%
• Normalised citation impact – 10%
• Total citations – 7.5%
• International collaboration – 5%
• Percentage of total publications with international collaboration – 5%
• Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field – 5%
• Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers – 5%
• Books – 2.5%
• Conferences – 2.5%

The top 10 schools in the overall Best Global Universities ranking are similar to last year’s edition, with Harvard University in Massachusetts again topping the list, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University in California.

* Compiled by Philip van der Merwe, Editor, Department of Institutional Advancement