No West African institution in 2020 World University Ranking
Even though some universities in West Africa boast of being among the best institutions for study, none of them appeared on the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for 2020.
The world’s most-consulted independent university evaluation was released to students, policymakers, and academics across the globe and published last week, however it showed only 13 Universities from Africa, and they are South African and Egyptian universities. Perhaps the only representatives from the African continent; these institutions are;
University of Cape Town (South Africa)
The American University in Cairo (Egypt)
University of Witwatersrand (South Africa)
Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
Cairo University (Egypt)
University of Pretoria (South Africa)
Ain Shams University (Egypt)
Alexandria University (Egypt)
Assiut University (Egypt)
Rhodes University (South Africa)
University of Kwazulu – Natal (South Africa)
University of the Western Cape (South Africa)
The University of Ghana was the only Ghanaian university on the 2018 Rankings. It was ranked at 17 among 19 universities in Africa; however, it did not appear in the 2019 and 2020 rankings.
China, according to the release, made a significant improvement by having 19 universities among the world’s top 200 research universities from 12 in 2016.
In the same stead, it said the Middle East for the first time, has two among the top – 200 universities. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz University (186th) is the new regional leader, the report said.
Even though the report said the US recorded its worst performance ever, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the world’s best university for the eighth consecutive year.
The top three universities were also from the United States, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology maintaining its number one position, followed by Stanford University and then Harvard University.
The QS says it ranked 1000 universities from 82 different locations, surveyed 94,000 academics and 44,000 hiring managers and analyzed 11.8 million research papers and 100 million citations.
The criteria for the rankings are as follows:
Research quality: does an institution publish high – impact research in high quantities?
Teaching capacity: what is an institution’s staff-to-student ratio?
Academic standards: how highly does the international academic community regard an institution?
Employability record: do employers hold graduates from an institution in high esteem?
Internationalization: in an increasingly-connected higher education sector, does an institution enjoy repute and recognition among international students and faculty?
By Asabea Akonor & Gifty Danso