Unisa Moves Up in the ARWU List of Top 1 000 International Universities

PHILLIP VAN DER MERWE|August 27, 2025

Released on 15 August, the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities indicates that Unisa has moved up to the 801-900 range.
Unisa retains its position as the eighth-ranked university in South Africa.
The university is one of only three African institutions to improve its position compared to last year.

MOVING UP: The main campus of the University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria. According to the 2025 Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Unisa remains among the eight best universities in South Africa and the top 1 000 universities in the world.

According to the 2025 Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), published on 15 August, 2025 Unisa remains among the eight best universities in the country and the top 1 000 universities globally.

The ranking is published by the Centre for World-Class Universities of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

As only approximately 10% of all universities are ranked by ARWU and only the top 1 000 universities are published in the ranking results, it is a significant achievement for Unisa to be included in the ranking.

The university retains its position as eighth among South African universities.

Unisa improved its ranking band placement from the 901 to 1 000 range in 2024 to the 801 to 900 range in 2025, and is one of only two South African universities to show a band improvement.

IMPRESSED: Speaking recently at the Unisa Catalytic Niche Area Research Symposium, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, the institution’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, lauded leaders in the research portfolio for institutionalising research that supports catalytic niches.

The criteria, indicators and weights used by ARWU to rank world universities are:

• The number of alumni who win Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (10%)

• The number of staff who win Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (20%)

• The number of highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories (20%)

• The number of papers published in Nature and Science(20%)

• The number of papers indexed in the Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index (20%)

• The per capita academic performance of an institution (10%)

The South African universities included in the top 1 000 are the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand in the 201-300 band, Stellenbosch University in the 401-500 band, the University of Pretoria and the University of Johannesburg in the 501-600 band, the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the 601-700 band, North-West University in the 701-800 band, and Unisa in the 801-900 band.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: According to the 2025 Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), published on 15 August, 2025, Unisa remains among the eight best universities in the country and the top 1 000 universities globally.

Unisa’s continued strong ARWU performance is a clear indicator of the university’s focus on ten catalytic niche areas, reaffirming its excellence in teaching and learning, research and innovation, and engaged scholarship, as well as its global impact.

Speaking recently at the Unisa Catalytic Niche Area Research Symposium, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, the institution’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, lauded leaders in the research portfolio for institutionalising research that supports catalytic niches.

“These areas,” she said, “contribute to rethinking and reclaiming Africa’s futures. Unisa’s roots are embedded in African knowledge, social justice and academic excellence, enabling us to remain steady, even as we navigate the shifting global dynamics.”