From being listed in the “Reporter institutions” category which means it did not meet eligibility criteria in 2023, to now receiving a rank in the 20th year of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) is pulling out all the stops to dazzle academics across the world.
The THE World University Rankings for 2024, which include 1,904 universities from 108 different countries and regions, demonstrate that BIUST has made significant strides even though both the University of Botswana (UB) and BIUST are positioned in the unimpressive 1201–1500 band overall.
BIUST’s strongest performance is international outlook where the institution scored 77.0, which is way higher than UB’s rank of 58.4. International outlook is regarded as a mark of a top institution, relevant both to international and domestic students. BIUST also surpassed UB in the teaching category scoring 25.5 while UB scored 16.8.
However UB surpassed BIUST in the industry category getting 19.9 compared to BIUST’s 16.6. UB received a score of 46.5 for research quality while BIUST received a score of 35.1. In terms of research environment, UB scored 14.1 while BIUST scored 11.0. Overall, there were only slight variations between the only two Botswana universities that are included in THE World University rankings.
This year’s modifications to the World University Rankings methodology include the addition of 18 calibrated performance indicators, up from 13 the previous year. Under the industrial pillar, three of the new metrics focus on the calibre of research, and one measures patents in particular.
Earlier this year, both BIUST and UB failed to make the cut in THE Impact Rankings. Impact rankings assess universities based on their contributions to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Among other things, data from THE World university rankings shows that the number of students per staff at BIUST is 8.8, while UB has 21.8. The percentage of international students at BIUST is 8%, while UB has 4%. Furthermore, the student ratio of Females to Males at UB is 59 : 41, while the student ratio of Females to Males at BIUST is 33 : 67.
This year’s THE World University Rankings note that the University of Cape Town (UCT) is still the best university on the African continent. The university was ranked favourably, coming in at position 167 out of 1,904 universities. The world rankings evaluate research-intensive universities based on 18 performance metrics that span their fundamental missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and internationalisation.
