UCT medical school best in Africa

The University of Cape Town's 102-year-old school of medicine, the oldest in the country, has been named the best institution of its kind in Africa in the world university rankings compiled by The Times of London's higher education supplement.

UCT moved up from 53rd last year to 48th this year, making it the only university in Africa in the top 100. The Times rankings are one of the top three global surveys of academic reputation. The first five spots were dominated by the UK and US.

Oxford University received an overall score of 92.3, followed by Harvard (US), Cambridge (UK), Imperial College London and Stanford (US). According to Linda Rhoda, communications manager for the faculty of health sciences at UCT, the university had worked hard to improve its status. She said the past three years demonstrate consistency in the faculty's ratings and it puts it in the company of internationally acclaimed universities. Rhoda said the faculty scored highly for citations, which says volumes about the quality of its research publications. It also scored highly for our research and teaching.

Jerome Cornelius: The Times, 13 October 2014