The latest Webometrics global university rankings analysis has been released. Top on the African ranking is the University of Cape Town followed by Stellenbosch University, University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Pretoria, University of Kwazulu Natal and Cairo University in the sixth position.
Aside from being the best universities in Africa, the six are also among the top 700 best universities in the world, ranked between positions 275 and 666. Other African universities that ranked top 1000 includes; University of Johannesburg (7th in Africa and 821 in the world), University of South Africa (8th in Africa and 936 in the world) and the University of the Western Cape ranking at position 9 in Africa and 943 worldwide.
Besides two Universities in East Africa - Nairobi and Makerere - the leading Universities that made the top positions are mainly South African and from Egypt.
Globally, Harvard University is ranked as the best university, followed by Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oxford University and the University of California Berkeley.
According to Webometrics, ranking is based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web contents (number of web pages and files) and the visibility and impact of these web publications according to the number of external in-links (site citations) they receive and aims to improve the presence of the academic and research institutions on the Web and to promote the open access publication of scientific results.
The Internet presence of the university and the popularity of its scientific publications play a crucial role in assessing its performance while at a more individual level, the ranking raises the profiles of researchers from a well-ranked university both locally and internationally and improves their reputation.
Photo courtesy / Google
Article by Jedidah Mwangi
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