Thinking about studying at university in South Africa can be overwhelming, especially since there are so many options of where to study in the South Africa, from University of Cape (UCT) to Durban University of Technology ( DUT). A new university ranking that focuses on academic performance has been released, ranking 18 South African universities among 2,500 institutes across the world. The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) differs from other widely published rankings by not precluding the lower-end of institutions, particularly in developing nations. These are the top universities in the country: SA # Global University Score 1 237 University of Cape Town 342.74 2 312 University of the Witwatersrand 330.54 3 369 University of KwaZulu Natal 324.98 4 405 Stellenbosch University 322.05 5 490 University of Pretoria 316.25 6 676 University of Johannesburg 308.57 7 818 North West University 304.61 8 900 University of the Western Cape 302.04 9 1049 Rhodes University 280.78 10 1071 University of the Free State 277.25 11 1248 University of South Africa (Unisa) 224.47 12 1357 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (Port Elizabeth) 190.98 13 1358 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (George) 190.84 14 1491 Tshwane University of Technology 153.00 15 1810 Cape Peninsula University of Technology 79.69 16 1815 University of Limpopo 78.75 17 1879 University of Fort Hare 67.68 18 1901 Durban University of Technology 63.56 Source: Business Tech