Republic of South Africa does not currently have an established national system to rate higher education institutions, however, there is an interest to learn from other BRICS countries how they deal with issues concerning global universities rankings. South African universities are widely represented in various international rating systems, and some are ranked highly in these ratings. However, they do this on their own accord as the South African law allows for considerable degree of institutional autonomy.
However, global ratings in no way contribute to solving the most urgent problem of higher education system in the country - final overcoming of apartheid regime legacy. In time of racial segregation in Republic of South Africa there were, in fact, two parallel systems of higher education - for white minority (these universities are mainly represented in global ratings) and for black majority. Despite efforts over the past 30 years, differences between these two groups of universities have not yet been fully levelled. Therefore, a relevant assessment of current status, quality of education and prospects for each of the two university groups requires differentiated approaches, fully taking into account both starting positions of each university and social context specifics for each university.
The basis to rate universities in Republic of South Africa has already been laid - the country has a system of assessing the performance of its higher education institutions, through mechanisms such as evaluation of research outputs produced by the universities, institutional audits, as well national programme reviews led by the Department of Higher Education and Training , as well as the national higher education quality assurance body. However, these mechanisms are not considered as the rating of universities. South Africa is not at a stage to develop a national university ranking system as the main policy priority is to transform its higher education system by addressing historical inequalities between its universities.