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UoN still the best in East Africa, but here are other top ranked Kenyan universities

By FAITH NYAMAI January 31st, 2019 2 min read

Details of top public and private universities can now be revealed.

The latest Webometrics ranking of world universities has named University of Nairobi, Kenyatta, Egerton, Moi and Jomo Kenyatta as the best five public universities in Kenya.

Mount Kenya, Strathmore, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, United States International University (USIU) and Daystar are ranked the best private institutions.

The University of Nairobi (UoN) is the best university in East Africa and position eight in the continent.

It is also among the top 1,000 best universities in the world, after it was ranked position 990.

The Webometrics ranking focused on 11,995 universities across the world.

MAJOR REFORMS

UoN vice chancellor Peter Mbithi said the university is embarking on major reforms to improve quality of teaching that will see its rankings improve in future.

“We are keen at ensuring that we focus on research and training of our lecturers in different fields to ensure they transfer the best skills to students,” he said.

UoN is followed by Kenyatta University (position 17 in Africa and 1,596 in the world), Egerton University (21 in Africa and 1,881 worldwide), Moi University (22 in Africa and 1,951 in the world) and Jomo Kenyatta (39 in Africa and 2,767 globally).

Maseno comes in sixth in Kenya and ranks position 81 in Africa and 4,126 in the world.

Strathmore is the best private university and the seventh best university in the country.

Catholic University of Eastern Africa is the second best private university and the ninth best in Kenya followed by USIU, which was position 10 in the country.

Daystar University was the fourth best private university and number 11 in the country, while Mount Kenya University was ranked fifth among private universities and number 13 in the country.

TOP BEST UNIVERSITIES

In December last year, the top five universities were also ranked among the top best universities in a ranking conducted by University Ranking Academic Performance.

Harvard University is ranked as the best university in the world, followed by Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oxford University and University of California Berkeley.

In Africa, University of Cape Town is the best university after it was ranked number 272 in the world.

It was followed by University of Witwatersrand (445), University of Pretoria (449), Stellenbosch University (496) and University of Kwazulu Natal (624), all from South Africa.

In East Africa, University of Nairobi was ranked as the best university and eighth in Africa, followed by Makerere University which was number 11 in the continent.

Webometrics only measured the extent to which universities use the internet to spread, transfer and exchange knowledge.

It does not give its raw data and analytical parameters.

Students wishing to use its findings to make decisions on courses or which universities to join would be best advised to use multiple rankings which consider other factors including quality of faculty, research output and alumni success.