UCT a 'flagship' African university

A report on eight universities in Africa has judged UCT the only university of those studied to meet a set of 'flagship goals'.

The other seven universities, each included as the highest-performing university in their country, were Botswana, Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique), Makerere (Uganda), Nairobi (Kenya), Ghana and Mauritius.

The report, entitled "An empirical overview of eight flagship universities in Africa, 2001-2011", found that two of the 'flagship goals' of each of the eight universities were to:

• engage in high-quality research and scholarship; and
• deliver knowledge products that will enhance national and regional development.

UCT was the only university of the eight that were included that clearly satisfied these two goals. However, South Africa has other universities that would have met the criteria '“ pointing to the country's research strengths. The report acknowledges the significant progress made by Makerere University and the University of Nairobi. It also points towards a significant increase in postgraduate enrolments, particularly for master's degrees, across all eight institutions. The report praised all the universities for improving their reputations and competitiveness on the international stage.

Commenting on the report, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research Prof Danie Visser said: "Research universities in Africa must stand together to make Africa part of the knowledge economy. In various respects, the universities mentioned here already work together in improving research. For instance, we are involved with Makerere and Ghana, as well as the University of the Witwatersrand, with the Carnegie Next Generation project. Initiatives such as this are crucial for growing capacity for high-quality research within Africa."

The report was compiled as part of the Higher Education Research Advocacy Network in Africa project, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford Foundation.

Read more about the report at Research Professional Africa

Download the report as a PDF from the Centre for Higher Education Transformation