Although West African countries are still underrepresented, the African continent as a whole is becoming increasingly visible in the world rankings that assess universities’ performance against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This was one of the key points raised at the Times Higher Education (THE) Pan-Africa Universities Summit, held at Future Africa, the University of Pretoria’s (UP’s) pan-African platform for collaborative research, on 17 and 18 April 2024.

While 70 African universities participated in the THE Impact Rankings in 2021, the number shot up to 106 in 2023, when countries such as Mauritius, Mozambique and Zimbabwe took part for the first time.

There has been even stronger growth in participation since then, according to Loubaba El Wazir, THE’s data quality assurance manager. “The participation of African universities has more than doubled, to 230 in 2024,” El Wazir said at the summit.

This growth reflects two factors: African countries that previously had not taken part in the THE Impact Rankings entered for the first time this year, while other countries that were already participating had a higher number of universities represented in the rankings.

Nigeria, for example, boosted its participation from 11 universities last year to 27 in 2024, while Algeria stands out as the African country with the highest representation overall. It has been in the top 10 countries in the world by representation since 2020.

African newcomers in 2024 include Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire and Somalia.

El Wazir said that first-time entrants such as these were contributing significantly to the growing diversity and inclusivity of the rankings, which are the only global performance tables that assess the contribution of universities to the SDGs.

Despite the dramatic growth in African participation, the continent’s 230 participating universities in 2024 account for only approximately 11% of the total number of universities taking part.

Globally, 2 052 universities from 125 countries participated in 2024, up from 1 705 universities and 115 countries last year.

Noting that the 2024 THE Impact Rankings would be released in June, El Wazir said there was a slight difference between the number of universities taking part and the number that appear in the rankings. Africa, for instance, had 106 participating universities in 2023, of which 101 appeared in the rankings.

The reason for the difference is that universities must meet certain criteria in order to appear in the rankings, she said.  Specifically, they must report on their performance in at least four of the 17 SDGs and provide supporting data.

One of the SDGs – namely SDG 17, ‘partnerships for goals’ – is a general requirement, but the other three reported on can be selected according to each university’s preferences.

In Africa, the SDGs in which universities perform best are ‘no poverty’ (SDG 1), ‘affordable, reliable and sustainable energy’ (SDG 7) and ‘partnerships for goals’ (SDG 17).

On the other hand, the SDGs in which African universities generally fare less well are ‘industry innovation’ (SDG 9) and ‘responsible consumption and production’ (SDG 12).

Having risen steadily up the THE Impact Rankings in recent years, the University of Pretoria eagerly awaits the June 2024 publication of this year’s rankings. In 2023 the university held 69th position overall in the world and was ranked second in South Africa and Africa. Of the nine SDGs the institution reported on last year, UP was ranked in the Top 100 in the world for seven. The university performed best in the goals for ‘decent work and economic growth’ (SDG 8), ranking fourth in the world, and ‘gender equality’ (SDG 5), ranking 14th.