Cape Town - South African universities are struggling to compete against rivals worldwide due to research performance which could be attributed to funding, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) found.
According to the CWUR, the national picture was a cause for concern amid intensified global competition from well-funded institutions.
CWUR published its 2023 Global 2000 list on Monday, one of the largest academic rankings of global universities.
Out of the 20 531 institutions assessed, only the top 2 000 received a ranking over factors including quality of education , employability, quality of faculty and research performance.
Despite UCT’s internal squabbles, it remained the best university in Africa and has been ranked at 267th position, up three places from last year.
It improved in employability and research performance, but declined in the quality of education indicator.
Wits University followed in second place and Stellenbosch University (SU) in third place.
According to the Center for World University Rankings president, Dr Nadim Mahassen, while South Africa was well represented in this year’s rankings, the country’s top institutions were under increasing pressure from well-funded universities from around the world.
“Funding to further promote the development and reputation of South Africa’s higher education system is vital if the country aspires to be more competitive on the global stage,” said Mahassen.
“Efforts must be made to ensure that South Africa attracts top academics and students, that increasing enrolment numbers at universities come alongside increases in teaching capacity, and that tertiary education expenditure as a percentage of the national GDP steadily grows in the years to come.”
The CWUR noted that more universities in the country were going down the list than up.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said: “The alumni employment indicator (placed 224th) performed well and continued its climb, moving up 13 places compared to last year, which was also up 23 places on the previous year.
The research performance indicator (ranked 245th) improved by five places compared to last year. As a leading research-intensive institution, UCT will continue to strive for excellence, and to remain at the forefront of cutting-edge discovery and impact,” he said.
Wits’s Dr Robin Drennan said the biggest issue in competing globally in ranking systems was the unequal playing field and no acknowledgement of this in the ranking methodologies.
“Relatively speaking, our impact seen against our funding is very large when compared to contributions made by well-endowed universities,” said Drennan.
Wits head of strategic partnerships, Dr Mahomed Moolla, said over the past few years, Wits had seen an improvement in the number of publications by their researchers.
“This is something that we are proud of as over 75% of our publications are in international journals, giving our researchers an opportunity to share their work with an international audience.
“Generally, all South African universities are finding that it is becoming more difficult to raise funds for research.“
Moolla said the government needed to realise that not all the 24 public universities were research intensive and that the fiscus did not have enough funds to make all 26 research intensive.
SU’s spokesperson, Martin Viljoen, said although the university did not actively participate in the CWUR, it was proud it still counted among the top 2.2% universities in the world.
“SU improved its rankings on the Times Higher Education World Ranking, the only ranking where we submit data that is audited.
“SU improved its rankings on the Times Higher Education World Ranking, the only ranking where we submit data that is audited.
“According to the CWUR, SU is among the top 500 universities in terms of research performance, the same as last year. SU endeavours to improve its research performance by increasing its research output and research contracts, establishing collaborative partnerships with universities and networks from all the regions of the globe, and by attracting top scientists from around the world, among others,” said Martin.
He said if a university fell in a global ranking, this did not necessarily mean that its performance had declined.
“As would be noted, SU ranking total is exactly the same as in 2022. However, more universities were ranked, and thus it appears we have dropped,” he said.
Cape Times