Rongo and Embu are among the top 30 Universities in Times Higher Education’s inaugural Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) University Rankings 2023.
University of Embu emerged position 16 as Rongo University secured position 25.
In the rankings, a South African University, the University of Witwatersrand took the top spot. University of Johannesburg South Africa was position two and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences of Tanzania took the third position.
University of Pretoria in South Africa emerged position four followed by Makerere University of Uganda at position five, University of the Western Cape South Africa at position six and Covenant University of Nigeria at position seven.
University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) of Rwanda, Ashesi University of Ghana and Ardhi University of Tanzania took position 8, 9 and 10 respectively.
Other Kenyan Universities apart from the two include; Kibabii University at position 39, Kabarak University at position 42, University of Kabianga which took position 51, Maasai Mara University at position 61 and Riara University at position 71.
In this first inaugural edition, a total of 88 universities from 20 countries have been ranked. Further, despite not meeting the eligibility criteria for receiving a rank, 33 more institutions have been recognized for their valuable data contributions. This extensive coverage of universities across the region further reinforces the comprehensive nature of these rankings.
According to the report, about two-thirds of participating universities are public institutions; a quarter are private, not-for-profit organizations and about a tenth are private, for-profit organizations.
The report further postulates that the rankings were designed to try to address local higher education challenges in the continent.
“Most universities in the sub-Saharan Africa region have specific developmental goals that need to be achieved because they are linked to the developmental goals of a country or region. These issues are what need to be taken account of when ranking the Universities,” reads part of the report.
The rankings use a hybrid methodology that covers five key pillars including resources and finance, access and fairness, teaching skills, student engagement and Africa impact.
According to the comment in the report by Mohamed Moolla who is the head of the strategic partnerships office at Wits, it was important to look at the challenges faced by a region that is one of the largest in the world but has a tertiary education enrolment rate well below the global average.
University of Cambridge Professor of International Education and Research for Equitable Access and Learning Centre Director, Pauline Rose, stated that the ranking was important because it put the spotlight on Universities that were vital for the socio-economic development of the region.
She however disclosed that these institutions were underfunded, experienced extremely large faculty-to-student ratios, and had limited time and money for research.
The data include results from the first sub-Saharan Africa student survey, which gathered the opinions of more than 20,000 students.
The Ranking was developed specifically to assess the impact of Universities in addressing some of the toughest crucial challenges faced in the region including teaching, research and social impact.
The project was led by Ashesi University in Ghana, in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. Times Higher Education independently managed all data collection and calculations for transparency and credibility.
By Michael Oduor
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