The University of Pretoria (UP) significantly improved its position in the 2022 Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings, which were released on 16 November 2022. Globally, UP is ranked 382 in overall reputation compared to 514 in 2021, 385 in research reputation (581 in 2021), and 339 in teaching reputation (461 in 2021).

In South Africa, UP is ranked 3^rd (4^th in 2021), overall. This is the University’s best performance over the past five years.

In research, UP is joint 3^rd in SA (4^th in 2021) together with the University of the Witwatersrand, and in teaching, UP is ranked 2^nd in SA (3^rd in 2021). Overall, the University of Cape Town (194 in the world) and Stellenbosch University (351 in the world) are ranked 1^st and 2^nd, respectively, in SA.

The 2022 rankings are based on a survey carried out between November 2021 and February 2022, which received 29 399 responses from 147 countries.

This ranking is based on the world’s largest invitation-only opinion survey of senior published academics. This Academic Reputation Survey uses United Nations data as a guide to ensure that the response coverage is as representative of world scholarship as possible. The questionnaire targets experienced published scholars, who offer their views on excellence in research and teaching within their disciplines and at institutions with which they are familiar. It is also evenly spread across academic disciplines. In the survey, scholars are questioned about their specific areas of academic expertise. They are not asked to create a ranking or list an extensive range of institutions; they only name, at most, 15 universities they believe are the best in each category (research and teaching).

UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Tawana Kupe congratulated the University community for achieving these remarkable results. “I am incredibly proud of the UP community for this outstanding performance,” he said.

“Quality teaching and research at UP have a tangible impact in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy. The culture of excellent teaching is firmly entrenched at UP across all fields of study. High-quality teaching helps students excel and graduate in the minimum time for a degree. Our teaching and learning approach is premised on inquiry-based, hybrid and community-based learning.

“In terms of research, UP recognises that it is through the sustained individual and collective actions of our researchers that we are in a position to fulfil our role and strengthen our identity as one of the leading research-intensive universities in Africa and in the world. As the university with the most rated researchers in the country and in light of the high-quality publications we produce, there is ample evidence of our commitment to quality and attracting and retaining researchers and academics of the highest distinction,” Prof Kupe said.