By Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, attributed the success to the institution’s effort towards fighting corona virus in the country and the whole continent at large.
Makerere University has been ranked fifth among the best African universities, and top most outside of Tanzania and South Africa, according to the 2023 Sub Saharan Africa university rankings.
The rankings also placed Uganda’s Metropolitan International University in 34th position, followed by ISBAT University and Cavendish in 51 and 61 respectively.
The three top South Africa universities of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and Pretoria ranked first, second and fourth respectively. Tanzania’s Mubili University of Health and Allied sciences came in third position.
The rankings by Times higher education, a United Kingdom based research body, were developed specifically to assess the impact of universities in addressing some of the toughest challenges faced in the region by focusing on five pillars of access and fairness, resources and finance, teaching skills, student engagement and Africa impact.
Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, attributed the success to the institution’s effort towards fighting corona virus in the country and the whole continent at large.
“Thanks to our successful Covid-19 recovery efforts that have significantly strengthened our research output and publications. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to our dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly to restore the university’s research profile to pre-pandemic levels,” Prof Nawangwe said in a tweet on Wednesday.
The institution was applauded during covid-19 period for developing a pandemic vaccine that helped to save the lives of Ugandans.
About the rankings
The development work for the ranking was undertaken in consultation with university leaders across sub Saharan Africa in a project initiated by a consortium of African and international higher education organizations and companies which include Maverick and Mycos among others.
The first edition ranked 88 universities across 20 countries and about two-thirds of participating universities were public institutions, quarter were private, (not for profit organizations) and about a tenth were private (for profit organizations).
The data included results from the first sub Saharan Africa student survey which gathered the opinions of more than 20,000 students across the continent.
