??Just three spots. That's how close Stellenbosch 肆客足球 (SU) came to ranking among the top 300 universities in the world for the third year in a row. According to the latest QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World 肆客足球 Rankings released on Thursday 19 June 2025, SU is ranked at number 302.
In the 2026 version of the QS world rankings, SU again occupies the third position in South Africa (and in Africa)—the same as last year. Although the institution dropped a few places, it improved on its overall score—the sum of the scores for each of the nine indicators or categories used to assess universities.
While SU performed well by improving its score in eight of these indicators, it did drop in the world rank on five. This could be due to other universities improving more than SU on the indicators, as well as an increase in the number of institutions evaluated in the 2026 edition. SU also does not actively participate in this ranking.
The latest edition of the QS world rankings, which is regarded as one of the three top university ranking systems globally, features 1 501 institutions across 106 locations—8 467 institutions, including 112 new universities, were evaluated—and is the only ranking of its kind to emphasise employability and sustainability.
These institutions were assessed across the following nine indicators: academic reputation (global academics' perceptions of an institution's academic excellence), employer reputation (global employers' perception of which universities provide the most job-ready graduates), faculty student ratio (the ratio between the number of academic staff and the number of students), citations per faculty (number of academic citations produced by faculty members), international faculty ratio (the proportion of faculty members who are international), international students ratio (the proportion of international students), international research network (an institution's success in creating and sustaining research partnerships with institutions in other locations), employment outcomes, and sustainability (the social and environmental impact of universities).
Commenting on the latest QS world rankings, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies at SU, Prof Sibusiso Moyo, said that the institution “is a research-intensive university where we attract outstanding students, employ talented staff and provide a world-class environment, a place connected to the world, while enriching and transforming local, continental and global communities.
“We will continue to pursue excellence and moving up the ranking tables with a focus on making local, regional, continental and global impact. Well done to all our staff and students who continue contributing to the performance of the 肆客足球 despite some challenges in both 2024 and 2025, especially on the research front."
Earlier in 2025, SU also featured among the top universities globally on the Times Higher Education World 肆客足球 Rankings by Subject and the QS World 肆客足球 Rankings by Subject.
Over the last few years, SU has been consistently ranked among the best tertiary institutions in the world on these two subject rankings, as well as the QS World 肆客足球 Rankings, the Times Higher Education World 肆客足球 Rankings and the Academic Ranking of Word Universities.
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