Nigeria has become Africa’s higher education leader in the 2026 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, with 24 universities listed—the highest in the region—surpassing South Africa’s 13.
The region now features 55 universities from 14 countries, up from just 10 a decade ago.
While Nigeria leads in numbers, South Africa remains the top performer, with four universities in the global top 500—led by the University of Cape Town at 164th and the University of Johannesburg entering the top 400.
Nigeria’s University of Ibadan and University of Lagos joined the rankings in the top 1,000, alongside Ghana’s University of Cape Coast and Uganda’s Makerere University.
Ghana now has four universities ranked, Botswana gained a second, Kenya and Tanzania retained two each, and Senegal entered for the first time with Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar.
Source: DW Africa