The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has consolidated its position as the top-ranked university in both Ghana and West Africa per the 2026 Times Higher Education (THE) rankings released by the World University Rankings (WUR) on Thursday.

UCC also placed 11th in Africa.

UCC has sustained this position for the past five years.

Additionally, on the research quality pillar, UCC is number one in Ghana and West Africa.

The 2026 version of the WUR comprises 2191 institutions across 115 countries and territories worldwide, which qualified to be ranked.

The WUR is reported to be the single most comprehensive global university rankings league table used to compare and judge research-intensive universities across each one of the five core missions of teaching environment, research environment, research quality, international outlook a s industry and knowledge transfer

With these, UCC remains among the top 11 universities in Africa and the only university in Ghana to be ranked among the top 11 in Africa.

The University has also maintained its position as one of the world's leading research-intensive universities.

Consistency

At a press conference on the rankings, the acting Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Denis Aheto said UCC had consistently demonstrated a sterling performance over the past five years as a research-intensive university not only in Ghana, West Africa, and Africa but globally, saying the feat remained a unique niche in the history of any university in Ghana.

He indicated that the achievements were a testament to the high quality and reputable scholarly research outputs of the university, particularly over the past decade, saying it emphasized the relentless efforts and deep commitments of the faculty, staff, and students towards conducting cutting-edge and impactful research of societal relevance.

Methodology 

He observed that the rigorous methodology for the 2026 rankings was based on the latest World University Rankings (WUR) 3.0 methodology, which included 18 carefully calibrated indicators to assess institutions across five key areas, including teaching, research environment, research quality, industry or knowledge transfer, and international outlook, with an overall weighting of 100 per cent.

He commended faculty, staff, and students both past and present for their diverse contributions towards maintaining the position again.

Prof Aheto stressed the the university would strive to continuously establish strategic partnerships with academia and industry both locally and internationally to promote activities that aligned with its core mandate.

He said, "UCC will be intentional about improving and sustaining the generation of its research outputs," and admonished staff and faculty to be motivated to continually conduct cutting-edge research that leads to innovative outputs, which could be commercialized and patented for societal benefits.

Prof Aheto said the WUR ranking served as a benchmark for governments to ascertain how the entire higher education ecosystem of the country was performing as well as its competitiveness to other universities and key to branding and marketing mechanisms.

He said it also informed the government and partners on policy formulation, implementation, and partnerships.

Sustain gains

He urged students to let curiosity and creativity, and enthusiasm be their driving force for success while admonishing faculty to push for research innovation and commercialisation through efficient global partnerships to sustain gains and enhanced growth of the university.

The Director of the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy at UCC, Prof David Teye Doku said the space is highly competitive, adding that the university would sustain momentum and keep the quality of its scholarly work in teaching, research, and community partnerships 

He stressed the need to strengthen partnerships across the board and sustain the university's performance.