- South Africa’s University of Cape Town remains in top 200 despite ranking slip
- Covenant University in Nigeria is the country’s highest ranked university, in band 801–1,000
- Ghana’s University of Cape Coast is the country’s highest ranked university, in band 801–1,000.
- There are a record 54 universities ranked from 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa Mauritius’s University of Mauritius is the country’s highest ranked institution. Jimma University in Ethiopia is the country’s number one and Makerere University is Uganda’s highest-ranked university, all in the 1,201–1,500 band
- Oxford University in the UK takes the number one spot for a record-breaking ninth consecutive year
- United States has a new leader, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second place
- Australia’s top five universities all slip down the rankings
- Three new countries join the top 200 of the rankings, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, bringing the total to 30 countries
- More than 2,000 universities are ranked – the largest number ever.
- The THE World University Rankings are the most comprehensive, rigorous and balanced global ranking assessing research-intensive universities across 18 performance indicators
Record regional participation and a top-200 spot for South Africa
A record 54 universities are ranked from 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2025, released today. University of Cape Town in South Africa is the highest ranked institution in the region and maintains a spot in the top 200 but has slipped to joint 180th from 167th.
Nigeria’s Covenant University is the country’s highest ranked university and maintains its position in band 801–1000. Nigeria has the most ranked universities from the region with 21 represented. South Africa has the second most universities in the ranking with 14 and Ghana has the third most with four.
Ghana’s University of Cape Coast is the country’s highest-ranked university, in band 801–1000, a drop from the 601-800 band, it was in last year.
Ethiopia, Mauritius and Uganda are all represented by one university each. Ethiopia’s Jimma University has slipped down to band 1201-1500 from 1001-1200. University of Mauritius in Mauritius maintains its position in the 1201–1500 band. Meanwhile, Makerere University in Uganda falls quite significantly to band 1201–1500, from band 801–1000.
Sub-Saharan African universities in the top 1,200 of the THE World University Rankings 2025
| University | Country | Rank 2025 | Rank 2024 |
| University of Cape Town | South Africa | =180 | 167 |
| Stellenbosch University | South Africa | 301–350 | 301–350 |
| University of the Witwatersrand | South Africa | 301–350 | 301–350 |
| University of Johannesburg | South Africa | 401–500 | 401–500 |
| University of KwaZulu-Natal | South Africa | 501–600 | 501–600 |
| University of Pretoria | South Africa | 601–800 | 501–600 |
| University of the Western Cape | South Africa | 601–800 | 601–800 |
| Covenant University | Nigeria | 801–1000 | 801–1000 |
| North-West University | South Africa | 801–1000 | 601–800 |
| University of Cape Coast | Ghana | 801–1000 | 601–800 |
| Ahmadu Bello University | Nigeria | 1001–1200 | NR |
| Landmark University | Nigeria | 1001–1200 | NR |
| University of Ghana | Ghana | 1001–1200 | 1001–1200 |
| University of Ibadan | Nigeria | 1001–1200 | 801–1000 |
| University of Lagos | Nigeria | 1001–1200 | 1001–1200 |
| University of the Free State | South Africa | 1001–1200 | 801–1000 |
= joint (The list of Sub-Saharan African universities in the THE World University Rankings 2025 is available below, in ‘notes to editors’).
South Africa experiences falls in the rankings but excels in research quality
South Africa has experienced a difficult year in the rankings as seven of its 14 ranked institutions slip down the table. South Africa’s leading university, University of Cape Town, remains in the top 200 but falls to joint 180 from 167 last year. Five of its universities hold their positions, but none of its institutions have improved. However, South Africa does have two newcomers to the rankings, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in band 1201-1500 and University of Fort Hare in band 1501+.
South Africa has one university in the top 200, four in the top 500 and eight in the top 1000. Nigeria has one university in the top 1000, five in the top 1200 and 11 in the top 1500. Ghana has one university in the top 1000 and three in the top 1500.
South African universities’ research quality pillar is very positive and is where the country excels. Compared to the rest of the world, South Africa does very well in the research excellence and research influence metrics, and also in the research productivity and income metrics (the latter two are in the research environment pillar). South African university research is very international and is able to attract international staff but the country does not do so well at bringing in international students.
Phil Baty, Times Higher Education chief global affairs officer, said:
South Africa
“It’s a fantastic achievement having a university from Sub-Saharan Africa in the top 200 of the THE World University Rankings again and my cap goes off to South Africa’s University of Cape Town, which achieved this.
“However, higher education in South Africa faces significant challenges and principal among these is declining funding, so competition is intensifying and putting pressure on the system’s global ranking positions.”
Nigeria
“Nigerian universities have had to battle with brain drain with young staff and students in critical fields of medicine, engineering and financial technology leaving the country. But the sector has managed to come up with innovative ways to combat funding shortfalls. The fact that Nigeria has more universities in the ranking than any other country in the sub-continent is a testament to them all standing up to be counted and benchmarking their achievements against the world’s best.
“We hope even more Sub-Saharan African universities submit data to our World University Rankings next year to even more accurately show the rich diversity of higher education excellence in the region.”
The world’s highest-ranked higher education institution is the UK’s University of Oxford, which has maintained the top spot for a record nine years in a row. Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States is the second highest-ranked university in the world and in third place is Harvard University.
The top 10 universities in the THE World University Rankings 2025
| University | Country | Rank 2025 | Rank 2024 |
| University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 1 | 1 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States | 2 | 3 |
| Harvard University | United States | 3 | 4 |
| Princeton University | United States | 4 | 6 |
| University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 5 | 5 |
| Stanford University | United States | 6 | 2 |
| California Institute of Technology | United States | 7 | 7 |
| University of California, Berkeley | United States | 8 | 9 |
| Imperial College London | United Kingdom | 9 | 8 |
| Yale University | United States | 10 | 10 |
The 21st edition of the ranking has 2,092 universities ranked – up from 1,907 last year – from 115 countries and regions. Ranked universities significantly increased, by 9.7 per cent this year, making it the biggest rise in the past five years and compares to a 6 per cent growth last year.
This year 2,860 institutions submitted data, up 6.9 per cent on last year (last year it was 2,674), from 133 countries and territories. The remaining 768 institutions gained “reporter” status, which means, although they submitted data, they did not meet THE’s eligibility criteria to receive a ranking.
Of the 211 universities that joined the ranking for the first time since the 2021 edition, 60 per cent are from Asia, 17 per cent from Europe, 10 per cent from Africa, and 10 per cent from South America.
The THE World University Rankings 2025 are the most comprehensive, rigorous and balanced global rankings assessing research-intensive universities across 18 performance indicators, which are divided into five pillars, covering their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and internationalisation.
The THE World University Rankings started with 200 universities and now has more than 2,000 making it the most global and inclusive university rankings in the world.
