South Africa’s Top Universities Ranked in 2025 Global List
JOHANNESBURG — October 2025
Eight South African universities feature in the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities, though their global positions slipped overall, as none made the top 100. Three institutions secured spots within the top 500.
The ShanghaiRanking Consultancy released its highly regarded annual list, which assesses universities using six criteria:
- Alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (10%)
- Staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (20%)
- Highly cited researchers across 21 subject categories (20%)
- Publications in Nature and Science (20%)
- Papers indexed in major citation indexes (20%)
- Per capita academic performance (10%)
The University of Cape Town (UCT) remained South Africa’s highest-ranked institution in the 201–300 band. The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) rose to join UCT in the same tier, improving from last year’s 301–400 position.
Stellenbosch University held steady in the 401–500 band, while other institutions saw declines:
- University of Johannesburg dropped to 501-600 (from 401-500)
- University of Pretoria fell to 601-700 (from 501-600)
- North-West University slid to 701-800 (from 601-700)
Two universities saw stability or gains: the University of KwaZulu-Natal remained in the 501-600 band, while the University of South Africa climbed to 801-900 from its prior 901-1000 ranking (based on BusinessTech reporting).
This marks a slight overall decline for South African universities compared to last year’s performance.