The University of Cape Town has emerged as the continent's highest-ranked institution, tied at 147th globally in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027. This marks an improvement from its joint 164th position in the 2026 edition. The rankings, released on Wednesday, assessed 2,297 universities across 118 countries and territories. The University of Cape Town's achievement makes it the leading African university in the rankings.
Five South African universities were ranked among the world's top 500. The University of the Witwatersrand was placed in the 301–325 band, while Stellenbosch University was ranked 326–350. The University of Johannesburg occupied the 351–375 band. These rankings reflect the institutions' performance across teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry.
Morocco's Mohammed VI Polytechnic University was the highest-ranked North African institution, placed in the 376–400 band. The University of Pretoria was ranked 451–500, while the University of KwaZulu-Natal occupied the 501–550 band. Egypt's American University in Cairo and the University of the Western Cape were both ranked 701–800.
Nigerian universities also featured in the rankings, with Covenant University placed in the 801–1,000 band. Other universities in the same band include Makerere University of Uganda, North-West University of South Africa, and institutions from Ghana and Nigeria, such as the University of Ibadan and University of Lagos.
Nigeria had the highest number of universities ranked in the 2027 THE exercise among countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with 29 institutions featured. The rankings used 17 performance indicators grouped into five areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry.
The methodology of the rankings covers research-intensive universities and draws on almost 20 million research papers, close to one million votes in an Academic Reputation Survey, and institutional data from more than 3,000 universities. This comprehensive approach provides a detailed picture of global university performance.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027 is the organisation's largest ranking exercise to date. The rankings provide valuable insights into the performance of universities worldwide, highlighting areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.
Key points
- The University of Cape Town is the highest-ranked African institution, tied at 147th globally.
- Five South African universities were ranked among the world's top 500.
- Nigeria had 29 universities ranked in the 2027 THE exercise, the highest number among countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
