Stellenbosch University
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SU consolidates position on global university ranking
Author: Corporate Communication & Marketing / Korporatiewe Kommunikasie & Bemarking [Alec Basson]
Published: 19/08/2020

Stellenbosch University's (SU) reputation as a top research-intensive academic institution locally and abroad has been confirmed once again by the 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Rankings, which was announced recently.

Finishing third in South Africa behind the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand, SU consolidated its position of the last three years. It ranks in the category 401–500. More than 2 000 universities are ranked annually and the best 1 000 are published.

Dating back to 2003, the Shanghai Rankings is today considered as influential as the QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Universities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in prestigious academic journals, papers indexed in major citation indices and the per capita academic performance of an institution.

Commenting on SU's latest achievement, Prof Hester Klopper, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Strategy and Internationalisation, says that SU's managing to consistently feature among the top 1% of universities in the world on all the major university rankings, is no mean feat. “It underscores one of our core strategic themes, namely Research for Impact. It is proof of SU's research impact world-wide and the recognition afforded to the calibre and stature of its researchers. This is all the more significant taken into the account the challenging times universities face due to COVID-19."

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