South Africa: UCT Jumps Up in Clinical & Health

The University of Cape Town (UCT) jumped up 21 places to 77th for clinical & health in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings by subject. Another four UCT subjects ranked in the top 200.

“These subject rankings reflect the steady, top-tier performance of our academics,” said UCT Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation Professor Sue Harrison. “Our strength lies in our people, and these subject rankings help the world to see the high calibre of work being done across our campuses.

“We are particularly proud of our performance in clinical & health. If we are to achieve any of the UN SDGs [United Nations Sustainable Development Goals] and the wide-ranging goals of Agenda 2063, we must improve the well-being of the country and continent and reduce inequities in health. UCT research and clinical practice has huge impact in this field, only some of which is captured by rankings such as this.”

In this 2023 release, THE published results for 1 001 universities. It placed UCT at 77th in the world for clinical & health (tied with the University of Groningen, Netherlands).

UCT was placed in the top 200 for an additional four subjects:

social sciences (101-125 band)

education (151-175 band)

law (151-175 band)

life sciences (151-175 band).

THE issues exact positions for only the top 100. Thereafter, universities are ranked in broad bands.

“These subject rankings reflect the steady, top-tier performance of our academics.”

THE bases its subject rankings on the same 13 performance indicators used in their world university rankings which are grouped into five categories: teaching, research, citations (the number of times a publication is referred to), international outlook, and industry income. However, the methodology is recalibrated to suit each field.

These subject rankings follow the publication of the THE’s 2023 World University Rankings earlier this month, in which UCT placed 160th.

UCT’s stellar subject rankings

In the recent release of the 2022-2023 US News & World Report Best Global Universities Subject Rankings, UCT had five subjects in the top 100. Infectious diseases, the best performing, placed 24th. The other four subjects in the top 100 were: immunology (51st); public, environmental and occupational health (51st); social sciences and public health (tied 66th) and psychiatry/psychology (90th).

In July, the 2022 ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects placed five of UCT’s subjects in the top 100. These were environmental science & engineering (24th), oceanography (in the 51-75 band) and clinical medicine, mining & mineral engineering and public health (all in the 76-100 band).

The 2022 QS World University Rankings by Subject placed UCT among the top 100 universities in five subjects: anthropology, architecture/built environment, and geography (all in the 51-100 band); medicine (88th); and development studies – UCT’s top subject (9th).

View the complete 2023 THE World University Rankings by subject and read about the methodologies (accessed from the subject pages).