UoN ranks top in latest Webometrics' rankings

The University of Nairobi (UoN) has been ranked the best university in East Africa in the latest Webometrics bi-annual worldwide ranking of universities.

Kenyatta University (KU) comes at number 28 in Africa, followed by Moi University (47) and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (Jkuat) (62).

These are the only Kenyan universities to rank among the top 100 institutions of higher learning in the continent.

UoN is also the only university in East and Central Africa to appear among the best 1,000 universities globally, coming at position 956.

In the list of top 10 best universities in the country are Egerton University at position five, followed by Strathmore University, Technical University of Kenya, Maseno University, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology and Muranga University of Technology.

Strathmore was the only private university that made it to the top ten best universities in the country. United States International University (USIU) ranked at position 11 in Kenya.

Harvard University leads the global rankings. American universities have dominated the top 20 positions globally, with only four institutions in the top 20 located outside the US.

The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities is an initiative that uses both webometric (all missions) and bibliometric (research missions) to rank universities. The ranking started in 2004 and reveals, every six months, a performance of universities from all over the world.

Universities are ranked under four criteria: presence, openness, impact and excellence. Eight of the top 10 universities in the continent are South African.

The University of Cape Town, which is ranked 265 in the world, leads the pack. University of Cairo, which is sixth in Africa and 655 in the world, and the University of Nairobi, are the only universities outside South Africa in the top 10.

Makerere University, ranked at number 1,013 in the world, and University of Dar es Salaam (1,838) complete the podium places for the highest ranked universities in East Africa.

“The original aim of the ranking was to promote web publication,” the Webometrics’ website reads. “We intend to motivate both institutions and scholars to have a web presence that reflect accurately their activities.”

Slightly over 30,000 institutions were evaluated world-wide, but only 12,011 met the criteria for ranking by Webometrics.