University of Nairobi Vice Chancellor explains institution's good ranking

Nairobi University Vice Chancellor Prof. Peter Mbithi during an interview with the Standard. The University was ranked number six in Africa in the January 2016 Webometrics University rankings taken on 4th February 2016. PHOTO:WILBERFORCE OKWIRI

University of Nairobi (UoN) has revealed the secret behind the good performance of the institution in global rankings.

The university recently emerged position one in Kenya and in East Africa, and number six in Africa in the 2016 edition of Webometrics University rankings.

Out of the more than 24,000 world institutions that were ranked by the Spanish research firm, UoN was position 697, a significant improvement by 226 slots from the previous year’s rankings.

The university’s Vice Chancellor (VC) Peter Mbithi attributed the institution’s good performance to heavy investment in research and human resource and collaboration.

Prof Mbithi said the university has collaboration agreements and networks with over 1,300 institutions across the globe, giving it a competitive edge against other universities in the country and the continent.

“The global networks have enabled us attract the best in the world to work with us.  Over time we have been able to attract extra research funds from the collaborations to add to what the government gives us,” he told The Standard.

“In the current financial year, our research kitty is worth Sh4.5 billion, which is bigger than the budget for research of all the universities in Kenya combined, because of the networks,” added the VC, who took over the leadership of the institution early last year.

In the East African region, Makerere University was the second at position 11 in Africa and 1,151 in the world. Kenyatta University was second in the country, but was position 30 in Africa and 1,915 in the world, followed by Moi University at position 54 in Africa and position 2,492 in the world.

According to the VC, the high qualifications of the over 180 full professors and the 260 associate professors has made them globally competitive, thus providing the institution with a rich human resource capacity.

position 229

UoN was ranked position two in Africa both in Openness and Impact indicators and position four in visibility. Globally, the University was ranked position 229 in openness, 279 in presence and 547 in visibility.

He said the diverse academic courses and programmes offered at the institution and the launch of innovation and talent centres boosted the university’s performance.

“Nearly all the courses taught at any world-class university are available at Nairobi. We have a management style that allows everybody to achieve their full potential and enable them to achieve the very best they can.”