The University of Johannesburg (UJ)’s global standing and academic robustness has been recognized, with the University achieving yet another upward trajectory in the latest 2024 edition of the QS World University Rankings, released on Tuesday, 08 June 2021.
UJ is now globally ranked at position 434, thus retaining its position among the Top 500 universities in the world. Not only has the University climbed five places from last year’s global ranking position but is the only university in South Africa that moved up in these rankings. UJ is now ranked at 3rd position in South Africa and climbed from fourth to third place in Africa.
The QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings are based on six performance indicators, ranging from global academic and employer reputation, research output and quality, internationalization, as well as teaching and learning. UJ’s high overall score was achieved, in part, by its increased cohort of international staff and students, which is well above the global average and leading nationally.
Notably, UJ improved its performance in the internationalization category, climbing 27 places from 185 to 158 in the world for the ‘International Faculty’ category and climbing 40 places from 295 to 255 in the world for the ‘International Students’ category.
The University also achieved improvements in the scores for the research and academic reputation indicators, climbing 34 places from 623 to 589 in the world for the ‘Citations per Faculty category. For the ‘Academic Reputation’ category, the score increased by 1.6 points from 12.9 to 14.5
Says Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, the Vice-Chancellor, and Principal, UJ: “The latest global rankings reaffirm the fact that our academic programmes remain strong and relevant, especially when one considers that the pool of competing universities in this global ranking system has increased, ranking 1300 universities instead of the usual 1000 universities as in previous editions.
“This is a tremendous achievement and recognition for UJ. I dedicate this feat to our entire staff who continue to contribute immensely to the University’s success even in challenging times because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This latest rankings demonstrate UJ’s resilience as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) thought leader in Africa, and how the University has had to be agile in adapting to the ever-changing landscape. This was also because in embracing technological advancements, our students have been at the centre of this innovative learning approach.”