Best South African universities for computer science and engineering studies

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is the best tertiary institution in South Africa to study computer science, engineering, and technology.

That is based on MyBroadband’s comparative analysis of the latest rankings and scores of South Africa’s prominent universities.

For our analysis, we looked at the scores of South African universities on the following reputed educational institution ranking systems:

1. Times Higher Education Engineering (THE-E)
2. Times Higher Education Computer Science (THE – CS)
3. SCIMAGO Engineering (SCIMAGO – E)
4. SCIMAGO Computer Science (SCIMAGO – CS)
5. University Ranking by Academic Performance Engineering (URAP – E)
6. University Ranking by Academic Performance Technology (URAP – T)

To be included in the comparison, a university had to be represented in at least one of the disciplines — engineering, computer science, or technology — on each ranking system.

Among the well-known universities not included for this reason were the Tshwane University of Technology, Rhodes University, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Fort Hare, University of the Free State, and the Durban University of Technology.

To determine which university ranked highest, we calculated an overall score based on the ranking or score it received in the ranking systems. All the rankings were weighted equally.

With the latest updates to the rankings, UJ dominated with an average score of 98.1.

This shows a remarkable jump from our last analysis in October 2022, when UJ ranked fourth with a score of 77.5.

The university was at the top of the rankings in four of the six systems used and second in the remaining two.

Following in a distant second place this time around was the University of Pretoria with 93.6 and Stellenbosch University with 93.5.

These two universities have historically ranked in the top two in our analyses.

The University of Cape Town was not far behind, with its average of 93.1, keeping it in touch with the top institutions.

The table below shows the top universities to study computer science, engineering, and technology in South Africa and their rankings and scores on the various systems.