Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
22 January 2025 | Story Charlene Stanley | Photo Supplied
University of the Free State - Main Gate
The THE rankings are known to guide potential students to identify the best institutions for their chosen field of study, allowing them to compare different universities based on the strength of their academic offerings in specific study fields.

The recently published Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject 2025 shows that the University of the Free State (UFS) is ranked among the top 1 000 global higher learning institutions in its nine evaluated subjects, with most subject areas showing improved results from those recorded in 2024. 

The annually published THE World University Rankings by Subject is a highly regarded, trusted global benchmark for academic excellence in specific disciplines. Its methodology is designed to evaluate universities by employing a range of performance indicators categorised under five core pillars, namely Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry, and International Outlook. 

Under Teaching, factors such as reputation, student-to-staff ratio, doctorate-to-bachelor ratio, and institutional income are considered. The Research pillar focuses on aspects such as productivity, citation impact, and influence. Among the other considerations are the income generated from industry partnerships and patents, as well as the number of international students, staff, and co-authored publications.

The methodology is carefully adjusted for each subject, ensuring fairness and accuracy by considering field-specific research cultures and publication practices.

The complete list of UFS subject rankings is as follows:

Law: 301+  *
Arts and Humanities: 501-600 # 
Education Studies: 501-600  #
Psychology: 501-600  #
Life Sciences: 601-800  #
Social Sciences: 601-800 #
Medical and Health: 801-1 000  #

Physical Sciences: 801-1 000 #

*The “+” label indicates that there is no upper limit and is used in instances where the THE does not provide exact ranks for universities beyond this position, therefore grouping institutions together to avoid overly fine distinctions at lower ranking tiers. (Eg. 801+ indicates 801st or lower.)

# The range label (eg. 801-1000), indicates that a university is ranked somewhere within this narrower range, (eg. between 801st  and 1000th. )

For more detail, visit: www.timeshighereducation.com

The THE rankings are known to guide potential students to identify the best institutions for their chosen field of study, allowing them to compare different universities based on the strength of their academic offerings in specific study fields. It also often paves the way for research collaboration, as companies are more likely to partner with highly ranked institutions in a specific sector for research and development projects. Furthermore, strong subject rankings enhance the international reputation of universities and enable comprehensive comparison in particular disciplines.

“This type of global benchmarking is extremely valuable in enhancing the international reputation of the UFS, enabling us to ultimately recruit and attract the most talented students and staff from our region and from across the globe. This aligns with our institutional strategy contained in Vision 130, whereby we aim to grow and extend our impact and influence locally, regionally, and globally,” says Prof Anthea Rhoda, acting UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal. “Valuable knowledge and insights are also garnered during each evaluation process, allowing us to remain a globally competitive force in higher education, and to take the UFS to even greater heights in the years to come.”

Click to view document Click to view UFS Times Higher Subject Scores

News Archive

New publication on groundwater remediation soon to be introduced
2017-05-05

Description: Prof Abdon Atangana groundwater remediation Tags: Prof Abdon Atangana groundwater remediation

A new book from Prof Abdon Atangana from
the UFS Institute for Groundwater Studies
proposes new techniques for groundwater
remediation, including guidelines on how chemical
companies can be positioned in any city to avoid
groundwater pollution.
Photo: Pixabay

A new publication, Fractional Operators with Constant and Variable Order with Application to Geo-Hydrology, will be published later this year, on 1 November 2017. The author, Prof Abdon Atangana, from the Institute of Groundwater Studies at the University of the Free State, said the book proposes new techniques for groundwater remediation, including guidelines on how chemical companies can be positioned in any city to avoid groundwater pollution.

Focus of the book
Prof Atangana said researchers and practitioners interested in groundwater modelling and remediation from applied mathematical and geo-hydrology backgrounds, will benefit from reading this book.

According to Elsevier, the book provides a physical review of fractional operators, fractional variable order operators, and uncertain derivatives to groundwater flow and environmental remediation. It presents a formal set of mathematical equations for the description of groundwater flow and pollution problems using the concept of non-integer order derivative. Both advantages and disadvantages of models with fractional operators are discussed.

“Researchers and practitioners
interested in groundwater modelling
and remediation from applied
mathematician and geo-hydrology
backgrounds, will benefit from
reading this book.”

About the author
Prof Atangana specialises in applied mathematics, groundwater modelling, fractional calculus and their applications, methods for partial differential equations, methods for ordinary differential equations, iterations methods, asymptotic methods, perturbations methods, and numerical method for fractional differential equations, uncertainties analysis. He has participated in 18 international conferences, organised six special sections and symposiums in international conference in Europe, Africa, Asia and USA, and has been invited as plenary speaker in eight international conferences. He also serves as editor on 20 international journal of mathematics and applied mathematics and editor-in-chief of two international journals of applied mathematics.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept