Unisa’s engineering disciplines best in SA: Times Higher Education global ranking

The globally respected and widely referenced Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, which rates over 1 700 universities across 104 countries and regions, has placed Unisa’s engineering disciplines across the board in joint first place in South Africa. Unisa joins North-West University and Stellenbosch University in the top spot.

THE World University Ranking is based on 13 rigorously calibrated metrics that measure an institution's performance across four categories: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.

This year's rankings examined over 121 million citations from over 15.5 million research publications, as well as survey responses from 40,000 scholars worldwide. The rankings collected over 680,000 data points from over 2,500 institutions that submitted data in total, which was then compiled to produce these rankings trusted by governments and universities as a vital resource for students when they are making decisions about where to study.

Overall ranking

Despite a substantial increase in the number of ranked universities, Unisa continued to perform well. In the overall ranking, Unisa again improved its overall weighted score. In particular, it is noteworthy that Unisa scored in the upper half globally for teaching (marginally below the top 25%), research (close to the top 25%) and international outlook (just above the median). Although Unisa dropped a band with the increase in ranked universities, the university’s position of 1 002 is only marginally into the lower band. In Africa, Unisa scored close to the top for teaching and research.

Ranking for Engineering

Unisa’s overall score of 37,5 places it the 401-500 band globally out of 1 306 universities ranked for Engineering, which is quite an achievement. Unisa is jointly eleventh in Africa and jointly first in South Africa (tied with North-West University and Stellenbosch University). This ranking highlights the universities that are leading across the following disciplines: general engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, civil engineering and chemical engineering.

Professor Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation, says: "The many years of investment, the dedication of all our staff and commitment to ensuring excellence has certainly paid off." She adds: "This kind of performance would not be expected of a university that is largely CODeL in its practice." Meyiwa asserts that Unisa's place on a similar pedestal with universities with a different categorisation and foci relative to the university is a testimony of the quality of the institution's education coupled with its passion for excellence.

Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, expressed her excitement on social media. “Unisa’s strengthened investments in academic success and global impact are yielding progressive changes,” she wrote, also expressing her appreciation to colleagues who made this ranking possible.

* Compiled by Godfrey Madibane, Acting Journalist, Department of Institutional Advancement, with additional reporting by Herman Visser, Department of Institutional Intelligence