Another Ranking Indicator for Africa

The prestigious and exclusive THE African summit is over. Whether it will lead to a serious regional ranking remains to be seen. The indicators used by THE in their world rankings and various regional spin-offs seem generally inappropriate to all but about two dozen institutions: reputation for research, income in three different indicators, citations, number of doctoral students.

But there is still a need to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of African universities in providing instruction in academic, technical and professional subjects and perhaps in their participation in innovative and economically beneficial projects.

Probably the way ahead for African ranking is the use of social media, bypassing the very problematical collection of institutional data.  More of that later.

Anyway, here is a ranking of African universities according to the number of results from a search of the WIPO Patentscope site. Searching was done on the 5th and 6th of August. Universities included the top 50 African universities in Webometrics and any university in the recent THE pilot ranking. All fields were searched.

There are no real surprises. South Africa is dominant, followed by Egypt. The flagships of Uganda, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria are represented. Most universities in Africa do no innovative research reflected in patents.

Rank	University	Country	References in patents any field
1	University of Cape Town	South Africa	377
2	University of Pretoria	South Africa	242
3	University of the Witwatersrand	South Africa	217
4	Stellenbosch University	South Africa	165
5	North West University	South Africa	125
6	Cairo University	Egypt	100
7	University of the Free State	South Africa	72
8	University of Johannesburg	South Africa	46
9	University of Kwazulu-Natal	South Africa	41
10	Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University	South Africa	34
11	Assiut University	Egypt	31
12	Rhodes University	South Africa	30
13	University of Nairobi	Kenya	21
14	Makerere University	Uganda	20
15	University of the Western Cape	South Africa	18
16	American University in  Cairo	Egypt	17
17	University of Ghana	Ghana	13
18	Université Mohammed V Souissi	Morocco	12
19	Cape Peninsula University of Technology	South Africa	11
20	Mansoura University	Egypt	10
21	University of Namibia	Namibia	9
22	Alexandria University	Egypt	8
23	University of Ibadan	Nigeria	7
24=	Kenyatta University	Kenya	6
24=	University of Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe	6
24=	Durban University of Technology	South Africa	6
27=	University of South Africa	South Africa	5
27=	Zagazig University	Egypt	5
27=	Suez Canal University	Egypt	5
30=	University of Dar Es Salaam	Tanzania	4
30=	Addis Ababa University	Ethiopia	4
32=	University of Ilorin	Nigeria	3
32=	University of Khartoum	Sudan	3
32=	University of Malawi	Malawi	3
35=	Helwan University	Egypt	2
35=	Université Hassan II Ain Chock	Morocco	2
35=	Université Cadi Ayyad Marrake	Morocco	2
35=	Kafrelsheikh University	Egypt	2
35=	University of Zambia	Zambia	2
35=	Ahmadu Bello University	Nigeria	2
41=	University of Lagos	Nigeria	1
41=	Université Cheikh Anta Diop	Senegal	1
41=	University of Mauritius	Mauritius	1
41=	Université de Constantine 1	Algeria	1
41=	Université  de Yaounde 1	Cameroons	1
46=	Obafemi Awolowo University	Nigeria	0
46=	Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology	Ghana	0
46=	University of Port Harcourt	Nigeria	0
46=	University of Botswana	Botswana	0
46=	Tanta University	Egypt	0
46=	Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology	Ghana	0
46=	University of Port Harcourt	Nigeria	0
46=	Covenant University	Nigeria	0
46=	Bejaia university	Algeria	0
46=	University of Botswana	Botswana	0
46=	Minia University	Egypt	0
46=	University of Tunis	Tunisia	0
46=	Benha University	Algeria	0
46=	Universidade Católica de Angola	Angola	0
46=	Université de Lomé	Togo	0
46=	South Valley University	Egypt	0
46=	Université Abou Bekr Belkaid	Algeria	0
46=	Beni-Suef university	Egypt	0
46=	Université Omar Bongo	Gabon	0
46=	University of The Gambia	Gambia	0
46=	Université de Toliara	Madagascar	0
46=	Université Kasdi Merbah Ouargia	Algeria	0
46=	Universite de la Reunion	Reunion	0
46=	Universidade Eduardo Mondlane	Mozambique	0
46=	Université de Ouagadougou	Burkina Faso	0
46=	University of Rwanda	Rwanda	0
46=	Universite de Bamako	Mali	0
46=	University of Swaziland	Swaziland	0
46=	Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny	Ivory Coast	0
46=	Université de Kinshasa	Democratic republic of the Congo	0
46=	National University of Lesotho	Lesotho	0
46=	Universidade Jean Piaget de Cabo Verde	Cape Verde	0
46=	National Engineering School of Sfax	Tunisia	0
46=	Université Marien Ngouabi	Congo republic	0
46=	University of Liberia	Liberia	0
46=	Université Djillali Liabes	Algeria	0
46=	Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey	Niger	0
46=	Misurata University	Egypt	0
46=	Université de Dschang	Cameroons	0
46=	Université de Bangui	Central African Republic	0
46=	Université de Nouakchott	Mauretania	0
46=	Eritrea Iinstitute of Technology	Eritrea	0
46=	Université de Djibouti	Djibout	0
46=	University of Seychelles	Seychelles	0
46=	Mogadishu University	Somalia	0
46=	Universidad Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial	Equatorial Guinea	0
46=	Universite Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry	Guinea	0
46=	University of Makeni	Sierria Leone	0
46=	John Garang Memorial University	South Sudan	0
46=	Hope African University	Burundi	0
46=	Universite de Moundou	Chad	0