University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is a public research university in Rondebosch, Cape Town, and the highest-ranked university on the African continent. It places 184th globally in the QS World University Rankings for 2027, putting it inside the world’s top two percent of institutions, a top-200 position it has now held for four consecutive years.

Teaching is organised across six faculties — Commerce, Engineering and the Built Environment, Health Sciences, Humanities, Law, and Science — alongside the Graduate School of Business and the Centre for Higher Education Development. The university hosts a substantial concentration of NRF-rated researchers, South African Research Chairs and centres of excellence.

UCT states its aim as producing graduates whose qualifications are internationally recognised and locally applicable, underpinned by engaged citizenship and social justice, and directs its research programme at all seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals.