In an increasingly global world with the need for the African American community to join the rest of the African Diaspora, it is time we consider some of the best colleges and universities we have to offer. We can no longer remain isolated in the United States acting like the rest of the black community isn’t out there and propose viable opportunities for us to learn, grow and connect with our people around the world.

Someone took taken the time to put together a list of the top African Diaspora colleges and universities. That company is Webometrics, an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain.

They put together a list, but here are some of the highlights:

• 10 of the 20 colleges and universities come from South Africa. An increase from 9 in 2013.
• There are 6 new schools in the top 20 this year
• African American colleges & universities (HBCUs) placed only 2 of the 20 colleges and universities present on the list after having 4 in 2013. Both universities that placed, Howard & Florida A&M, saw drops in their rankings.
• The top ranked African Diaspora college/university in 2014 is up 31 places from top ranked African Diaspora college/university in 2013.
• No African Diaspora colleges or universities are present in the top 100 in Webometrics’ world rankings.

Below are the objective and methodology per the Webometrics website:

Objective: The original aim of the Ranking was to promote Web publication. Supporting Open Access initiatives, electronic access to scientific publications and to other academic material are our primary targets. However web indicators are very useful for ranking purposes too as they are not based on number of visits or page design but on the global performance and visibility of the universities.

Methodology: The Webometrics is the largest academic ranking of Higher Education Institutions. Since 2004 and every six months an independent, objective, free, open scientific exercise is performed by the Cybermetrics Lab (Spanish National Research Council, CSIC) for the providing reliable, multidimensional, updated and useful information about the performance of universities from all over the world based on their web presence and impact.

1. University of Cape Town – 350 (391) – South Africa
2. Cairo University – 358 (1206) – Egypt
3. Stellenbosch University – 439 (462) – South Africa
4. University of Pretoria – 444 (746) – South Africa
5. University of the Witwatersrand – 580 (719) – South Africa
6. University of Kwazulu Natal – 752 (N/A) – South Africa
7. University of the West Indies – 774 (N/A) – Jamaica
8. University of the Western Cape – 789 (834) – South Africa
9. University of Nairobi – 907 (1624) – Kenya
10. Mansoura University – 911 (1699) – Egypt
11. Rhodes University – 968 (1191) – South Africa
12. University of South Africa – 1058 (1545) – South Africa
13. Makerere University – 1134 (696) – Uganda
14. University of Johannesburg – 1204 (1749) – South Africa
15. Alexandria University – 1223 (N/A) – Egypt
16. Howard University – 1231 (753) – United States
17. North West University – 1430 (N/A) – South Africa
18. Benha University – 1493 (N/A) – Egypt
19. Addis Ababa University – 1599 (N/A) – Ethiopia
20. Florida A&M University – 1632 (1557) – United States

Source: http://hbcumoney.com/2014/08/27/webometrics-2014-top-20-african-diaspora-colleges-universities/