University of Cape Town (UCT) vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng is pleased with the institution’s latest Times Higher Education (THE) ranking, which sees it retain its top spot in Africa and come 183rd out of the more than 16 000 international institutions ranked.

The THE World University Rankings assess institutions worldwide across 13 performance indicators in five areas: teaching, research and citations, international outlook and industry income.

Two weeks ago UCT moved one spot up to be ranked highest in the continent in the 2021 ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Phakeng said the rankings are a testament to researchers’ work, support staff and to everybody at UCT.

“Many staff members contribute in countless different ways to ensure that the university’s ship continues sailing in a sea of excellence,” she said.
 
She further noted that UCT has achived its rankings during the challenging Covid-19 pandemic and amidst the recent fire at UCT.

UCT deputy vice-chancellor: research and internationalisation Professor Sue Harrison noted that the university has continued to produce “cutting-edge research”.

She said the performance in the rankings is a reflection of the commitment to excellence from the institution’s research community which has a strong focus on local impact.

Harrison added that these strengths are shown in UCT researchers’ response to Covid-19.