On Monday Witsies woke up to the news that the University of the Witwatersrand is the best ranked university in South Africa.
In the annual ranking compiled by the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR), Wits was ranked, the top tertiary institute in South Africa for the second year in a row.
“I feel proud to be a part of a well renowned university and it makes me proud to put Wits on my CV.” Masters student Jessica Pereira told vuvuzela.
However, Wits has fallen down the rankings from its standing last year from 114 to 149. This is in comparison to its rival university, University of Cape Town – that has climbed the ranks in the past year from 267 to 248.
As expected, the American universities dominated the top 20 positions with Harvard University securing the first place, followed by Stanford University and then by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
According to CWUR, Wits has been ranked wit in the top 100 universities in the world, for its quality of education and employment of alumni in top positions.
The rankings are determined through a list of criteria that involve: how many university alumni and faculty members have won international awards and how many hold top executive jobs, the quality of education, publications, influence, citations and the broad impact of the university.
Wits was ranked on par with the University of Cape Town with regards to influence and patent power.
Despite a few ups and downs in the global rankings, South African Universities in general dropped in score from 2014. Other South African universities that made the top 1000 include the Western Cape’s Stellenbosch University (306), the University of KwaZulu Natal (478) and the University of Pretoria (678).
Last year Vice Chancellor Prof. Adam Habib warned to take the ranking lightly as different ranking systems use different criteria for universities.
Raquel De Canha 