By Yolaan Begbie. South Africa is known to have some of the best universities on the continent. Search any global university ranking and you’re likely to find at least two or three South African universities listed. There are many that don’t make the cut but we at Africa.com believe that South Africa offers world-class learning experiences—so much so that they are sought out by other African students and thousands from abroad. Following our piece on the Top 10 Universities in Africa, Africa.com now brings you the Top 10 Universities in South Africa. More...

Intrigued by the idea of studying in the world’s largest country, and one of its fastest growing economic powers? Discover the top universities in Russia, based on the new QS University Rankings: BRICS, a ranking of the top 100 universities in the five BRICS countries, developed in collaboration with Russian news agency Interfax. Russian capital Moscow is home to many of the country’s leading universities, and is a popular destination for students due not only to its choice of institutions, but also its vibrant and diverse nightlife, dynamic cultural scene, rich history and seemingly endless range of things to see and do. Famous for its lavish buildings and affluent lifestyles, the city also has an edgier, underground culture, while the iconic red brick towers of the Kremlin continue to attract a stream of tourists from around the world. More...

It’s fair to say that universities in China dominate the new QS University Rankings: BRICS, a ranking of the top 100 universities in the five BRICS countries, developed by QS in collaboration with Russian news agency Interfax. In the new ranking, 40 of the top 100 places are taken by universities in China, including seven of the top 10 spots and almost half of the top 50. The very top two places go to the prestigious Tsinghua University and Peking University, both of which rank within the global top 50 in the latest QS World University Rankings®. More...

Recent years have seen a growing international recognition for universities in Brazil, with 22 Brazilian institutions featured in the 2013/14 QS World University Rankings®. The new QS University Rankings: BRICS, developed in collaboration with Russian news agency Interfax, makes it possible to see how the top universities in Brazil compare with the leading institutions in fellow fast-growing economies Russia, India, China and South Africa. A total of 17 Brazilian universities are ranked among the top 100 BRICS universities, and the 11 top universities in Brazil are all within the BRICS top 50. With stiff competition from four countries that have all been investing heavily in developing their higher education systems, it seems Brazil is succeeding in holding its own. More...

India boasts 16 entries in the top 100 of the new QS University Rankings: BRICS, a ranking of leading universities in the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Unsurprisingly, the top universities in India are largely comprised of Institutes of Technology (IITs) – the elite group of colleges specializing in engineering, technology and science disciplines which have so far provided the main success story of Indian higher education. Of the 16 IITs in operation, half are ranked within the BRICS top 100, and the first seven of these also constitute the seven top universities in India. Also performing well are a number of large multidisciplinary public universities, based in India’s major cities: the final three places in the Indian top 10 are taken by the Universities of Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai, and the BRICS top 100 also includes the University of Hyderabad, University of Madras, Banaras Hindu University, University of Pune and Manipal University. More...

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) have just published their BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) university rankings, a collaborative effort with Interfax, the Russian news agency. The top ten contains seven Chinese, two Brazilian and one Russian university. There are none from South Africa or India, although the University of Cape Town is eleventh. The methodology is based on the QS World University Rankings methodology but with some important modifications to reflect the situation of emerging economies.
On the subjective side the employer survey has a weighting of 20%, compared to 10% in the World University Rankings, while the weighting for the academic survey is reduced to 30%. These rankings also assess universities for faculty student ratio (20%), faculty with Ph Ds (10%), papers per faculty (10%), citations per faculty (5%), international faculty (2.5%) and international students (2.5%).
The top five overall are:

In the top 100 there are 40 Chinese, 19 Russian, 17 Brazilian, 16 Indian and 8 South African universities. More...

Times Higher Education (THE) has published its BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and Emerging Economies University Rankings. Those countries listed in the Financial Times Stock Exchange Emerging Market Indices are included.
The methodology is the same as that used in the THE World University Rankings and uses data supplied by Thomson Reuters from its Global Institutional Profiles Project. Only universities that actively submit data to Thomson Reuters are ranked. Source: Times Higher Education 04/12/13. More...