Unisa surges ahead in global subject rankings and national creative outputs

On 25 March 2026, QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Ranking released results for institutions in the subject areas in which such institutions have been nominated for evaluation.

This includes the scores and ranks for those subjects where institutions scored highly enough to be ranked. According to the QS website, this year's rankings were based on the reputation and research output of almost 6 273 institutions. From this group, 1 908 were ranked across 55 narrow subjects and five broad subject areas, creating over 21 000 entries. If a subject is not ranked, it is because its score is not high enough to receive a published rank.

Unisa prides itself on being ranked in six subjects, up from one in the 2022 academic year. The six subjects, with Education ranked the highest, are:

• Education (301-350)
• Material Science (351-400)
• Agriculture and Forestry (401-479)
• Environmental Science (451-500)
• Chemistry (501-550)
• Physics and Astronomy (551-600)

Top four in terms of creative outputs and innovations

Furthermore, on 23 February, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) released the sixth instalment of its report on the implementation of the policy on the evaluation of creative outputs and innovations produced by South African public higher education institutions, which provides an account of the 2024 submission outcomes.

Unisa improved significantly in single-year (2024) performance, ranking fourth nationally. For cumulative creative research outputs (2019-2024), Unisa is ranked seventh overall. Unisa also performed better in cumulative outputs in both Music and Fine Arts, ranking fifth.

In terms of single-year (2024) outputs, Fine Arts made an even better showing, ranked second nationally, while Literary Arts is ranked eighth.

The progress made by Unisa in the QS World University Rankings and DHET report on national creative outputs is lauded and shows that the university is on the right trajectory.

* By Professor Mpho Ngoepe, Acting Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation, Unisa