The latest published Times Higher Education (THE) group’s World University Rankings for 2025, listing 14 South African institutions among the 2,100 universities assessed indicates the University of Venda (UNIVEN) being ranked amongst 14 best South African Universities.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings have a key focus on research-intensive universities across all core indicators.
According to the Times Higher Education group, its third (3.0) version of the assessment methodology now looks at 18 performance indicators to provide a comprehensive and balanced comparison between universities.
The 18 performance indicators are grouped into five areas and those areas are: Teaching (the learning environment); Research environment (volume, income and reputation); Research quality (citation impact, research strength, research excellence and research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry (income and patents).
The 2025 rankings looked at 2,092—185 of which are new entries when compared with last year. Notably, institutions provide and sign off their institutional data for use in the rankings.
The rankings are based on 157 million citations, 18 million research publications, and survey responses from more than 93,000 scholars globally.
Looking at South Africa’s universities, 14 made the cut, two more than last year. However, most South African universities fell out of their ranges, slipping significantly. It is pleasing to note that UNIVEN managed to hit the mark.
UNIVEN Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Bernard Nthambeleni was gratified by this good news. He said he is thrilled that the University is reaping the rewards of its hard work. “We can only im-prove from here knowing that our university is heading in the right direction. This is important to the University community and partners. These recent rankings clearly indicate the great strides that we have made in building the University of Venda’s global brand visibility.” He mentioned that he is optimistic that UNIVEN will continue forging strategic partnerships and the recruitment of international talent. “This further demonstrates that the University of Venda is indeed on track, making impact and relevance. There is no doubt that having a highly ranked partner can in turn improve the University’s reputation. We call on all our stakeholders to join us as we celebrate this global accomplishment,” said Prof Nthambeleni.
Issued by:
Department of Marketing, Branding & Communication.
University of Venda
Tel: 082 868 2218 / 082 868 1811
