As tertiary education is so difficult it’s always nice when students get a pat on the back every now and then and that has happened today at University of South Africa (Unisa).
Professor Puleng LenkaBula, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at Unisa, has issued an announcement on the Unisa site called a “message of appreciation to Unisans”.
In the announcement the professor highlights some recent accomplishments at Unisa made possible by both the students and the staff.
“It is exciting to bear witness to UNISA’s dramatically improved standing in the Shanghai rankings and other significant rankings and, atop that, our recent win of the Zairi International Award for Research Impact. As if that were not enough, the latest news is that all of you have contributed to UNISA’s fantastic Research Performance in 2021 with such sheer commitment to Unisa’s mission and vision,” LenkaBula writes.
According to the Shanghai Ranking website here Unisa is placed in the 601 – 700 place in 2021. This is an improvement from 801 – 900 in 2020. While that still leaves a lot to be improved any advancement is welcome.
Fore the sake of comparison here is some other South African universities and their 2021 ranks:
- University of the Witwatersrand: 301 – 400
- University of Johannesburg: 601 – 700
- University of Cape Town: 201 – 300
- Stellenbosch University: 401 – 500
- University of Pretoria: 401 – 500
The methodology of the ranking system can be found here for those who want more information about these placements.
Unisa’s performance is still worth talking about as it offers a higher education to South Africans who can complete their studies remotely, something that has become particularly important during the pandemic.
Outside of these rankings LenkaBula also shines a spotlight on the research output of the university.
“Our Research Publication Units stand at 1 323 2237, the sum of your commitment to research. In what is clearly a labour of love on your part, you admirably actualised our commitment to improving our research outputs and their impact—by increasing per capita from 1.6 to 2.0 overall per permanent staff member and research citation index to reach 1 basis points above the national SA index yearly. This we have achieved, with a corresponding rise in NRF rated researchers in the higher categories. Management and I are very proud of your pursuit of research-led teaching and teaching-led research that are manifesting in the improved throughput rate that hovers at around 78%,’ the professor continued.
