University of Pretoria takes top honours in new ranking by students

The country’s university students had the opportunity to rate their institutions, which saw the University of Pretoria take top honours.

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After three of South Africa’s universities made it onto the top universities in the world list by the Times Higher Education World University Ranking, the University of Pretoria took top honours in a new ranking by students.

Top Universities in South Africa

StuDocu, the higher education EdTech platform created for knowledge sharing, launched its second annual World University Ranking.

As the fastest growing market in terms of users, South Africa has been included in the ranking for the first time, which sees a survey of 100 000 students and recent graduates from 1 800 universities across 30 countries. The ranking is the only survey of its kind, as they highlight current student experiences and opinions.

A total of 24 South African universities were ranked by current students and recent grads, based on 16 categories that directly impact students and how they experience life on campus. The World University Ranking 2021 brings to the fore what current students can expect from their universities when they return to campus full-time and gave them the chance to grade their institutions on the quality of their remote operations during the pandemic.

The ranking also allows prospective students the opportunity to understand what each university offers. Unlike other lists, the ranking focuses not just on academic reputation, but also on-campus life, such as quality of food, safety, (on-campus) housing options, sports culture and even the dating scene.

The final question in the ranking asks each student to rate their likelihood to recommend their school to family and friends, providing each university with a Net Promoter Score. Three universities in South Africa – the University of Pretoria, University of Johannesburg and the University of Cape Town – earned Net Promoter Scores of 9.1 and above, making them very likely to be recommended by current students.

Sport, safety and location

“We are very excited to have been able to include South Africa in our StuDocu World University Ranking this year,” said Marnix Broer, CEO and co-founder of StuDocu. “Across the board, South African students ranked their universities highly, which is great to see, giving the highest marks to the categories of sports, safety and location. Unfortunately, dating on campus didn’t fare so well, garnering the lowest rankings in general.”

Broer added that the ranking 2021 is one of the only rankings that highlight the student experience from the inside, with rankings that showcase current student sentiment. By highlighting unique categories not found in other surveys, Broer and his team aim to provide a holistic view of the overall educational experience at each of the world’s universities, empowering students to choose the best experience to fit their individual needs.

Based on the likelihood of students recommending their university to family and friends, the Net Promoter Score and rank were determined. The top universities in South Africa for the StuDocu World University Ranking 2021 are: