The University of Ghana (UG) has emerged as the highest-ranked university in Ghana and West Africa.

According to the inaugural QS World University Rankings for Sub-Saharan Africa 2026, the university is also the 8th Best in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Ranking

The UG attained an overall score of 74.8, demonstrating strong performance across multiple key indicators used in the assessment.

The University recorded an impressive 90.6 in Academic Reputation, highlighting its strong standing among scholars, as well as 88.3 in International Research Network.

It also recorded 86.6 in Sustainability, reflecting its expanding global collaborations and commitment to sustainable development.

Additional scores included 79.2 in Web Impact, 65.6 in Employer Reputation, 52.1 in Citations per Paper, 50.3 in Staff with PhD, 48.1 in Papers per Faculty, and 10 in Faculty–Student Ratio.

The ranking was announced at the launch of the Inaugural QS World University Rankings: Sub-Saharan Africa 2026, held at the Association of African Universities (AAU) in Accra.

Collective success

Reacting to the ranking, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, congratulated the entire university community on the remarkable achievement.

She described it as a collective success worthy of celebration, noting that being ranked eighth in Sub-Saharan Africa was a significant milestone that affirmed the University of Ghana’s growing regional and global standing.

While expressing excitement about the ranking, the VC emphasised that the university remained focused on continuous improvement. 

Challenges

Prof. Amfo acknowledged areas that required attention, particularly the student–faculty ratio and used the opportunity to call for greater investment and financial clearance from the government to recruit additional faculty.

She added that increasing staffing levels would improve the faculty–student ratio and ease the workload on existing faculty, enabling them to devote more time to research and enhance the university’s research output.

Prof. Amfo further encouraged faculty, staff, and students to remain committed to excellence, stressing that with unity of purpose and the right resources, the University of Ghana could aspire to the very top position in future rankings.

Areas of ranking

A total of 69 institutions were ranked from 21 African locations.

This ranking focuses specifically on regional performance in Sub-Saharan Africa, using criteria adapted to reflect local higher education strengths and challenges, such as research output, reputation, employability, sustainability and global engagement.

QS World University Rankings is a world-leading source of comparative institutional performance assessments for students and university partners around the globe. 

Each QS ranking is compiled using a core methodology that measures the metrics that matter to students, including reputation among employers, academics, student experience and research activity.