Rankings should not be dismissed – but they must keep evolving

Every year, universities recognise their rise in global rankings, analysing movements and scrutinising methodologies. Yet the vital question isn’t whether our institutions are moving up or down, it is whether we are measuring what actually matters.

Rankings are an influential force in higher education. They shape public perception, direct funding, guide student choices and quietly push institutional priorities, while making performance visible. Critics rightly point out that these tables oversimplify complex institutions, reward legacy wealth and struggle to evaluate universities operating in vastly different societal contexts.

Debating whether rankings are inherently good or bad misses the point. The real challenge is whether universities have the conviction to engage with these systems critically, to champion their evolution and help them recognise diverse forms of excellence.

This conversation is urgent, especially for universities in Africa.

African universities have spent decades being judged primarily by deficit, and being evaluated on what our campuses lack rather than what they deliver. A far stronger response is to engage on our own terms: claiming our place at the table while actively interrogating the criteria used to define academic quality, excellence and impact.

Rankings do not always capture the true impact of higher education. They miss the lecturer spending extra hours to keep first-generation students from falling through the cracks, the local lab tackling endemic diseases or the graduate entrepreneur launching a business that sustains an entire neighbourhood. As living institutions deeply rooted in their communities, universities’ deepest impact routinely escapes standard formulas.

Yet writing off quantitative evaluation altogether misses a real opportunity. Used thoughtfully, rankings encourage honest internal reflection, promote institutional transparency and give universities a baseline. They can bring long-overdue visibility to exceptional work, as long as we never mistake the scoreboard for the game itself.

Crucially, we must remember that rankings methodologies evolve over time, and change for the better. Feedback from global institutions has already convinced evaluation systems to expand beyond traditional citation counts, gradually integrating metrics on sustainability, societal impact and cross-disciplinary research. This ongoing development demonstrates how rankings agencies and universities can work together to reflect the true diversity of higher education.

This is precisely why hosting the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit in Cape Town is so significant. Alongside our co-hosts at the University of Bristol, we do not view this gathering as a routine celebration of rankings or institutional prestige. Instead, it is a deliberate opportunity to bring global higher education leaders directly on to African soil to engage around these very frameworks. Universities exist to interrogate assumptions, push boundaries of enquiry and to continuously raise the standards of rigour and inclusive excellence; and we know that we can expect that same commitment to excellence, fairness and continuous improvement from THE.

This gathering is also about building genuine, reciprocal partnerships. Across Africa, researchers are leading work on critical global priorities – from climate adaptation and infectious disease surveillance to African-centred artificial intelligence. As the world’s youngest continent, Africa will increasingly shape global innovation.

Ubuntu reminds us that our humanity is bound up in one another. Knowledge works the same way. The most meaningful breakthroughs of this century will not come from isolated elites but from equal collaborators across borders.

History will not judge our universities by their place in a ranking but rather by the discoveries made, the lives uplifted and the societies transformed. If rankings help hold us accountable to this higher standard, then they do serve a purpose. If they evolve through open debate that includes voices from every corner of the world, they become stronger still.

The future of higher education will not be decided by who tops a list. It will be shaped by those willing to ask better questions about what excellence from higher education truly means.

Mosa Moshabela is vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town. The THE World Academic Summit is being held at the institution from 29 September to 1 October. The THE World University Rankings 2027 results will be published on 30 September.