No Nigerian varsity makes world’s first 700 – Report

No Nigerian university is in the first 700 higher institutions of learning in the world and the first 18 in Africa, according to the QS World University Rankings 2015/16.

The report was released on www.topuniversities.com <http://www.topuniversities.com> on Tuesday.

Of the top 18 universities ranked in Africa, none is in Nigeria.

However, South Africa has nine institutions while Egypt has five. Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have one institution each.

“This is the 12th edition of QS’s annual ranking of the world’s top universities, which uses six performance indicators to assess institutions’ global reputation, research impact, staffing levels and international complexion,” the report said.

In Africa, the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is ranked first on the continent and 171st in the world. The Stellenbosch University, South Africa, is rated second in Africa and 302nd in the world. The University of the Witwatersrand is the third on the continent and 331st globally.

Also on the Africa’s top list are The American University in Cairo, Egypt, 345th position in the world; Cairo University, Egypt, 501-550; Rhodes University, South Africa, 501-550; University of Pretoria, South Africa, 501-550; University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, 551-600; and the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, 601-650, respectively.

Other institutions on the African ranking, which also share same points range of 701+, are the Ain Shams University, Egypt; Al Azhar University , Egypt; Alexandria University, Egypt; Makerere University, Uganda; North-West University, South Africa; University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; University of Ghana; University of Nairobi, Kenya; and the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.

On the global scale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, scored 100 per cent to retain its top spot in the QS rankings for the fourth year consecutively. Harvard University (US) climbed two places to rank second, followed by the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), and Stanford University (US) in joint third.

The MIT came first in the 2012 global rating – a position which Harvard and Cambridge universities had once occupied – and has remained there ever since.

Harvard University came second with 98.7 per cent. The University of Cambridge and the Stanford University jointly held the third position with 98.6.

The fifth is the California Institute of Technology, US, 97.9; University of Oxford, UK, sixth, 97.7; UCL (University College London), UK, seventh, 97.2; Imperial College, London, UK, eighth, 96.1; ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland, ninth, 95.5; and the University of Chicago, US, 10th, 94.6.

The report said, “The primary aim of the QS World University Rankings is to help students make informed comparisons of leading universities around the world. Based on six performance indicators, the rankings are designed to assess universities in four areas: research, teaching, employability and internationalisation.

“Each of the six indicators carries a different weighting when calculating the overall scores (see below). Four of the indicators are based on ‘hard’ data, and the remaining two are based on major global surveys – one of academics and another of employers – each the largest of their kind.”

The reports said the universities were placed on 40 per cent scale of academic reputation; employer reputation, 10 per cent; student-to-faculty ratio, 20 per cent; citations per faculty, 20 per cent; international faculty ratio, five per cent; and international student ratio, five per cent.

The report added, “A total of 82 countries are represented in the QS World University Rankings this year, with the largest shares claimed by the US (154), UK (71), Germany (43) and France (41). Japan has 38 entries; Australia, 33; China, 30; Canada and Italy, 26 apiece; Brazil, 22; and Russia 21.

“After the US, UK, Switzerland and Singapore, the highest entry is claimed by Australia, with the Australian National University in joint 19th. France makes its first appearance with the École Normale Supérieure (ENS Paris) in 23rd place, followed by Canada’s McGill University in 24th. China’s top entrant, Tsinghua University, climbs 22 places to rank 25th while the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology gains 12 positions to reach 28th.”