The Lens
QS Sub-Saharan African Rankings 2026
Discover what brings Sub-Sahara African higher education alive in QS' inaugural rankings.
By Wesley da Silva Siqueira
"Sub-Saharan Africa has the youngest population globally."
"The absence of available faculty or student data, made it difficult to evaluate where these institutions stand compared to their peers."
"For many Sub-Saharan universities, lack of visibility - not underperformance - is one of the main barriers to global recognition."
The regional rankings offer a unique perspective, designed to provide a more in-depth view of institutional performance within different parts of the world. After shining the spotlight on top institutions from Europe, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, and the Arab Region, we are proudly launching the much anticipated QS World University Rankings: Sub-Saharan Africa.
With more universities from this region represented than in the QS World University Rankings, this ranking covers institutions from almost 50 eligible countries across Eastern, Western, Southern and Middle Africa as per the United Nations geoscheme.
This means that institutions based in Northern Africa are not included in this list . Northern African institutions, however, are already covered by the QS Arab Region Rankings, based on the criteria of League of Arab States membership. The only exceptions are the institutions from Djibouti and Mauritania, which currently feature in both rankings.
The context
International student flows to Africa are still relatively small, but there is significant student and faculty mobility within and across certain countries in the continent.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the youngest population globally, with roughly 70% under the age of 30, according to the United Nations. The share of young people aged 15–24 is projected to increase substantially, rising from 19% in 2019 to an estimated 42% by 2030.
Participation in tertiary education in the region remains limited, at around 9–10%, well below the global average of approximately 42%, highlighting a large gap between demand and access, according to the 2024 UNESCO Forum on Higher Education in Africa.
Higher education systems across the region are pressured by these and other developing scenarios. The QS Sub-Saharan Africa Region Rankings is grounded in the unique characteristics, priorities and challenges of the region, allowing institutions and students to make direct comparisons among regional peers with a more granular approach to metrics.
Rankings can help institutions evaluate their performance, benchmark against peers, and identify areas where investment or strategic focus can have the greatest impact. When used thoughtfully, they function as a data-informed decision-making tool at both institutional and system levels.
This ranking brings African higher education to the forefront of policy discussion, demonstrating its role in driving economic development and a more sustainable future, while supporting regional goals such as the Association of African Universities 2030 Strategic Plan and the African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.
Methodology
The QS World University Rankings: Sub-Saharan Africa uses indicators previously applied to other rankings, however, selected and adjusted to the measures regional stakeholders have identified as relevant.
During the process of developing its methodology, we collected feedback about which indicators should be included in this ranking from Sub-Saharan Africa-based leaders, scholars, experts, governments, and higher education institutions.
Compared to the QS World University Rankings, we use both Citations per Paper and Papers per Faculty instead of just Citations per Faculty. This allows us to compare both the impact and the volume of research being done.
We also use Staff with PhD and Webometrics Web Impact which are useful differentiating factors at a regional level. Finally, our reputation indicators here are balanced at 20% each, while International Research Network and Sustainability are weighted higher to reflect the importance of cross border research partnerships and sustainability metrics in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Results
The first edition of the QS World University Rankings: Sub-Saharan Africa lists 69 institutions out of 260 that were initially analysed. Here it is important to emphasise that not all higher education institutions are eligible for our rankings, and not all eligible institutions are ranked.
One of the main challenges in the process of gathering data for this ranking was the absence of available faculty or student data, which made it difficult to evaluate where these institutions stand compared to their peers.
However, the 69 ranked institutions already represent a very interesting jump in regional representation compared to the 19 institutions featured in the 2026 QS World University Rankings. This is even more special when it comes to newcomers, in which we see 34 institutions debuting in the QS Rankings ecosystem.
Among the 21 represented locations in the QS Sub-Saharan Africa Region Rankings, 10 of them are also featured for the first time in a QS universities publication, enjoying the visibility and momentum brought by their respective institutions.
These new institutions now enter in the roadmap to the QS World University Rankings, since one of its key inclusion criteria is for one institution to be ranked in its respective regional ranking – something not applied yet for Sub-Saharan Africa-based universities.
More than that, the regional debutants now have new engagement opportunities with local and external partners, while supporting the development of greater insights and knowledge about African higher education.
The top 20 includes prestigious universities such as the University of Cape Town, the University of Ghana, the University of Ibadan, Addis Ababa University, Makerere University and the University of Nairobi, among others.
The presence of institutions from six different locations in the top 20 reinforces an important message: strong performance is achievable across different systems and contexts. Excellence is not confined to a single national model, nor expressed in only one way.
In this sense, while South Africa is the most represented location with 14 institutions ranked, it is closely followed by Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya, with 11, 8, 7, and 6 institutions, respectively. It is a much more balanced picture when compared to other QS university rankings, where usually the top two-three countries lead in representation isolated from the other locations.
Additionally, Eastern Africa is the most represented sub-region, with 25 ranked institutions, of which 15 are debuts. It is followed by Western Africa, with 23 institutions in the ranking.
Lenses and indicators
Looking beyond overall rank, the lens-based results reveal different institutional and national strengths, reinforcing that success is not tied to one national or institutional model. Let’s look at the Research & Discovery Lens, perhaps the most insightful one in this ranking.
Nigeria and South Africa perform strongly across key research lenses, including Academic Reputation, Citations per Paper and Papers per Faculty, reflecting established research influence and productivity.
Ghana and Kenya also deliver competitive results within the Research & Discovery Lens, with institutions demonstrating strong citation impact and solid research output.
While Citations Per Paper is typically the strongest indicator, with institutions registering an average score of 39, Papers Per Faculty is typically the weakest indicator, with institutions registering an average score of 18.5. This points to a research model where institutions publish less but, when they do, their work is relatively impactful.
If we include in this analysis Academic Reputation, which also aggregates a relatively low average score of 20.4, the results suggest that visibility and legacy are standing out more than research volume in shaping perceived excellence in the region.
Finally, by looking at the highest average score by location, it’s interesting how different countries take the lead across the three Research & Discovery indicators: Uganda leads on Academic Reputation, Zambia on Citations Per Paper, South Africa on Papers per Faculty.
These patterns indicate that meaningful research strengths are present across several systems, though expressed differently from country to country.
The findings of the first edition of the QS World University Rankings: Sub-Saharan Africa, hence, highlight to local institutions and governments the importance of actively communicating research strengths and results, and not relying on legacy recognition alone.
Finally, inclusion in the rankings reflects data availability as much as performance, which underscores how for many Sub-Saharan universities, lack of visibility - not underperformance - is one of the main barriers to global recognition.