The University of Pretoria (UP) is now 323rd worldwide in the 2024 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, a notable improvement from its previous ranking of 591-600 in the 2023 rankings.

UP interim Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Themba Mosia says this ranking is the most significant compared with the improved positions of other South African universities ranked in the top five in Africa.

He says this will elevate UP’s standing and help entrench the university’s global position.

“The addition of three new indicators – Sustainability, Employment Outcomes and International Research Network – together with a recalibration of weights assigned to the other existing weighted indicators (Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty to Student Ratio, Citations per Faculty, International Faculty and International Students) has led to a more accurate evaluation of universities’ performance measured against the nine performance indicators,” he says.

UP is ranked number one in South Africa in three of the nine indicators including Employer Reputation, International Research Networks and Sustainability.

It also achieved a significant milestone by securing the 26th position in the world for its International Research Network, which is in line with UP’s strategy of increasing the extent and diversity of its international research collaborations.

The QS overall ranking score is calculated by summing up the weighted scores for each indicator and normalising that against the highest-performing institution, which receives a score of 100. UP achieved a notable increase in its overall score of 55% from 2023 to 2024.

UP improved its global ranking across four of the nine indicators: Employer Reputation, International Research Network, Employment Outcomes, and Sustainability.

Securing a position within the top 200 globally in Employer Reputation and Sustainability aligns with the results of the Impact Rankings, where UP secured an overall ranking of 69th and ranked 4th on SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

UP also ranked third in South Africa in Employment Outcomes, securing a place in the top 150 globally at position 104.