Nearly 70 universities from 21 countries are featured in this inaugural edition, signalling growing momentum across Africa’s higher education landscape. A total of seven Ghanaian higher education institutions feature in the first edition, two of which are among the top 20.

University of Ghana is the top institution in Ghana, with a strong reputation among both employers and academics, as well as developed international links with researchers globally. It is also ranked eighth in Africa for sustainability.

The ranking has been designed in collaboration with regional stakeholders and expert members of the QS Advisory Board, and is aligned with the objectives of organisations like the Africa Union and the Association of African Universities. Through the ranking, QS aims to support African universities with visibility, data and benchmarking tools.

Emphasis is placed on metrics relevant to the region, including employer reputation, international research collaboration, and sustainability indicators. While meaningful comparisons across such varied national and institutional contexts remain challenging, the ranking offers a valuable high-level perspective. It sheds light on how African universities are viewed by employers and the global research community, alongside insights into research output, student learning experience, and global engagement.

QS Senior Vice President Ben Sowter said: “The inaugural QS World University Rankings: Sub-Saharan Africa opens a richer, more contextual conversation about performance, progress and opportunity across African higher education. It has been designed as a tool for growth, global recognition and institutional learning.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is home to diverse higher education ecosystems and unique contexts, where universities fuel economic growth, create vital talent pipelines and develop leading research. This ranking seeks to support these ambitions.

“Within this context, Ghana has three universities in the top 25, including the University of Ghana in eighth position. With the government’s recent commitment to academic freedom and good governance in higher education, universities and research are increasingly on the government’s agenda. The Ghana National Research Fund Act is expected to further enhance the research function of Ghanaian universities.

Overview for Ghana

The QS Sub-Saharan Africa Rankings are determined by an institution’s scores across eight key indicators which have been tailored to reflect the nuances of the region. The below table shows the top performing university in in each of QS’ indicators in Ghana.  Full information about the methodology is available here.

The 2022 budget in Ghana sought to increase tertiary enrolment rates from just under 19% in 2021 to 25% by 2025. The 2026 Budget sought to expand access further, with the planned launch of the University of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences at Bunso, as well as two new technical universities in Jasikan and Techiman and public universities in Kintampo and Dambai.

The country’s no academic fee policy, allocated GH¢499.8million and launched in July 2025, covered fees for more than 156,000 first-year students in public tertiary education in the 2025 academic year. 

The inaugural QS Africa Rankings features seven of the 250+ Ghanaian universities, with University of Ghana top ranked at eighth overall, thanks to strong results in Academic and Employer Reputation, Sustainability, International Research Network and Web Impact. 

A commitment to academic freedom and good governance in Ghanaian universities was reiterated in early 2025, whereby President John Dramani Mahama, Vice President, Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, and Minister of Education Mr Haruna Iddrisu reaffirmed their commitment to empowering university councils and university managements to perform their statutory duties without undue political interference. Government-university relationships have reported by university heads to be collaborative and supportive, with the current Vice-President of the republic [Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang] being a former vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, firmly putting higher education and research on the government’s agenda. At a time when mutual distrust between governments and universities is blighting the higher education sector of many nations, this is encouraging and an example to be followed in the region. It is expected the research function of Ghanaian universities will be further enhanced, as they are increasingly linked to the country’s development and the government recently announced their intention operationalize the Ghana National Research Fund Act (Act 1056). This national objective is in line with the African Union’s to increase Africa's contribution to global scientific research output from 3% to 10% within 10 years.

Other notable achievements in the pilot iteration include University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) and Kumasi Technical University ranking sixth and eighth in Citations per Paper, respectively. 

Sowter said: “In the most recent QS World University Rankings, more than 20 institutions from Sub-Saharan Africa were ranked. This new ranking is designed to celebrate the diversity of Africa’s diverse higher education ecosystem and help institutions to further succeed and achieve their strategic aims.”

The full QS World University Rankings 2026: Africa will be published when the embargo lifts and will be available at https://www.topuniversities.com/africa-university-rankings