UJ, one of the world’s best youngest universities

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has been recognised yet again as one of the leading and rising young universities in the world, according to two authoritative global ranking systems of young universities aged 50 years or younger, the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Under 50 Rankings 2021 and the Times Higher Education (THE) Young University Rankings 2020.

These latest rankings results place UJ in the global top 70 and top 200 of young universities, respectively. Both rankings results were released on 24 June. These rankings celebrate and shine a spotlight on those young emergent universities, founded after 1970, that exhibit extraordinary potential and are moving forward in leaps and bounds, rapidly growing in size and stature in the global higher education landscape. They are also steadily gaining ground on the world’s top-ranked, well-established and well-resourced institutions with centuries of history and entrenched global academic reputation. These rankings thus illuminate the outstanding achievements made by universities that have not enjoyed the same historical advantages as these counterparts.

UJ is the only African university to feature on this top 150 list. From a global standpoint, it remarkably rubs shoulders with the likes of Western Sydney University, University of Canberra and Auckland University of Technology, which all sit in close proximity to each other in the table.

As a young university, celebrating its 15th year in 2020, these latest accolades are testament to the hard work and superlative accomplishments of our staff and students in their fervent pursuit of global excellence and stature in teaching and learning, research, innovation and impact. These rankings demonstrate that UJ has been making its mark and has emerged as a strong challenger to the global established hierarchies.