The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has once again secured its position as the best university in Ghana and West Africa, marking its third consecutive top-ranking achievement.
The 2024 Times Higher Education's World University Rankings unveiled the UCC as not only the best in Ghana but also the top institution in West Africa.
Furthermore, the university has earned the seventh position among Africa's leading universities, making it the only representative from Ghana and West Africa within the top 10 ranks on the continent.
This marks the 20th edition of the prestigious annual rankings, released on Wednesday, September 27, signifying the UCC's position among the world's research-intensive universities.
In 2023, the UCC was first in Ghana and West Africa, ranked fourth in Africa among the top 400 globally, and 24th in terms of research influence.
While the university has slightly slipped from fourth place in Africa to seventh in 2024, its overall performance continues to showcase improvement compared to previous years.
The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking, which is widely recognised as one of the most prestigious global university rankings, evaluated data from 2,673 institutions across 108 countries. Out of these, 1,904 institutions qualified for ranking in 2024.
The ranking criteria introduced a new methodology for this year, designed to provide a more balanced evaluation. It encompasses categories such as teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry or knowledge transfer.
Speaking at a press conference, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, Vice Chancellor of the UCC, lauded the unprecedented feat, emphasising the institution's outstanding reputation for scholarly research output, particularly in the past decade.
He noted, “By this feat, UCC has also demonstrated its contribution to higher education and the impact of its scholarly outputs in Ghana, Africa, and globally. This highlights the hard work and commitment of our faculty towards engaging in impactful research.”
The Vice Chancellor expressed the UCC's commitment to forming strategic partnerships aligned with its core mission to sustain its outstanding performance.
Prof. Boampong called on all stakeholders to diligently advance the institution's core mandate of teaching, research, and community service.
He urged faculty and staff to enhance their research efforts and drive innovative outcomes that could benefit society by means of commercialisation and patents.
“It is also imperative that we improve in other areas where the university ranked low,” he added.
“In particular, we will work to increase the proportion of graduate students and attract more research grants to increase the research income, making resources available for the provision of state-of-the-art facilities for teaching and learning.”
The Vice-Chancellor extended his commendations to the University's Council, Management, staff, students, and all stakeholders for their contributions to the remarkable performance.
Prof. David Teye Doku, Director of Research, Innovation, and Consultancy (DRIC), stressed that although the university's position in Africa fell from fourth in 2023 to seventh in 2024, the overall performance shows an upward trend, attributed to the revised methodology. He added that they are determined to further improve their performance.