The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has advanced to the top 2.3% of universities globally, according to a world university ranking released on Thursday.

UJ was among the top 650 global institutions for 2017/2018, according to the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.

The institution's high overall score was achieved, in part, by its improvement in employer reputation, its increased complement of international staff and students, UJ said in a statement.

The QS World University Rankings are based on six performance indicators, related to global reputation, research output and quality, internationalisation, and teaching and learning.

The 12-year-old UJ was the youngest of all ranked universities in South Africa and had moved into fifth position nationally. It is the only one of these top five universities in South Africa that achieved the distinction without the benefit of a medical school.

"UJ outperformed the South African average for participating universities in four of the six indicators, namely: employer reputation, staff-to-student ratio, international staff and international students."

The university said the scores for international students and employer reputation showed the highest improvement for UJ between 2016 to 2017.

For more information on the QS World University Rankings, visit Top Universities.