SA has 3 universities in Shanghai's Top 500

Each year Shanghai's University rank the World's Top 500 Universities by several indicators of academic or research performance and for the 2008 rankings South Africa reached 25th place in the country rankings with UCT, WITS and UKZN in the top 500.

The indicators include:

• alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, (The total number of the alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Economics and Fields Medal in Mathematics)
• highly cited researchers,
• articles published in Nature and Science,
• articles indexed in major citation indices, (Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index in 2007. Only publications of article type are considered.)
• the per capita academic performance of an institution. (The weighted scores of the above five indicators divided by the number of full-time equivalent academic staff.)

There are many methodological and technical problems with the ranking. Methodological problems include: the proportion of indicators on teaching and services, the weight of per capita performance, the type of institutions (comprehensive or specialized), the language bias in publications, the selection of awards and the experience of award winners. Technical problems include: the definition of institutions, the attribution of publications and awards, and the history of institutions.

Top world universities in Science, Engineering, Medicine & Social Sciences

Each year the Jiao Tong University brings out their Top 100 World Universities in Broad Subjects list. (Not a single African country managed to get on the list)

The ranking list includes every institution that has any Nobel Laureates, Fields Medals, and Highly-Cited Researchers. In addition, major universities of every country with significant amount of articles indexed by Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) are also included.

Institutions are ranked by five broad subject fields, including:

• Natural Sciences and Mathematics (SCI),
• Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences (ENG),
• Life and Agriculture Sciences (LIFE),
• Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy (MED),
• Social Sciences (SOC).

Ranking indicators include:

• alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals,
• Highly Cited Researchers, articles indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI).
• percentage of articles published in the top 20% journals of each field
• engineering research expenditure

Top universities' ranking on the web - UJ not in Top 10

Webometrics has just released their 2008 World Universities's ranking on the web , and UJ is listed as the 14th Top African University , and 3,704th in the world.

Objectives of the Webometrics Ranking of World's Universities
"The original aim of the Ranking was to promote Web publication, not to rank institutions. Supporting Open Access initiatives, electronic access to scientific publications and to other academic material are our primary targets. However web indicators are very useful for ranking purposes too as they are not based on number of visits or page design but global performance and visibility of the universities.As other rankings focused only on a few relevant aspects, specially research results, web indicators based ranking reflects better the whole picture, as many other activities of professors and researchers are showed by their web presence.
The Web covers not only only formal (e-journals, repositories) but also informal scholarly communication. Web publication is cheaper, maintaining the high standards of quality of peer review processes. It could also reach much larger potential audiences, offering access to scientific knowledge to researchers and institutions located in developing countries and also to third parties (economic, industrial, political or cultural stakeholders) in their own community."

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The top ten consisted of:
(the number is brackets is the university's world ranking)
1 University of Cape Town (385)
2 Stellenbosch University (654)
3 Rhodes University (722)
4 University of Pretoria (734)
5 University of the Witwatersrand (831)
6 University of the Western Cape (1,218)
7 University of Kwazulu Natal (1,313)
8 University of South Africa (1,499)
9 American University in Cairo (1,654)
10 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (2,145)

The World University Rankings 2007 are online here

Martin Ince reveals the winners and losers in The Times Higher-QS World University Rankings 2007.

... The world's top ten universities are in the UK or the US, according to the annual Times Higher-QS World University Rankings published with this issue.

Harvard has emerged as the world's top university for the fourth time in succession, with Cambridge, Oxford and Yale universities all tied for second place. The UK has four institutions in the top ten this year, compared with three last year. Imperial College London makes fifth place, up from ninth last year. University College London rose 16 places, making it to ninth place. Princeton, California Institute of Technology, Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology make up the rest of the top ten

. ... The rankings are based on the opinion of 7,000 active academics and graduate recruiters, alongside quantitative data on research impact, staff and student numbers, and universities' levels of internationalisation.

... The rankings confirm the modest world status of universities in continental Europe, with the top university being France's Ecole Normale Superieure in 26th place.

... The top 200 includes four from the developing world: two in Brazil, one from Mexico and, for the first time, an African university, Cape Town, in 200th place.

... A total of 28 nations have at least one institution in the 200. Virtually every university in Australia is in the rankings, with 12 representatives, while the Netherlands, with 11, emerges as continental Europe's principal power in higher education.

... Several significant Asian universities have risen markedly in the table including Hong Kong, up 15 places to 18th.