Makerere University has once again proved her worth as one of Africa’s leading research institutions by being ranked 3rd in the prestigious Times Higher Education (THE)’s pilot ranking of African Universities. The ranking based solely on research influence has initially considered 15 universities in Africa with the remaining 15 set to be named at THE’s inaugural Africa Universities Summit due to take place on 30th and 31st July at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

South African Universities dominated the top 15 ranking with the University of Cape Town (UCT) topping the table, and Makerere as the only non-South African University muscling its way in to break the Southern top five dominance. The University of Nairobi came in at the 8th position while other countries like Nigeria, Morocco, Ghana and Egypt were also represented in the top 15. Please see Table 1 for details.

According to a statement published on the THE website, the ranking was formulated using Elsevier’s Scopus database to highlight some of the continent’s top performers in terms of how often research papers are referred to and cited by other academics across the globe.

Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu welcomed the ranking as an endorsement of Makerere University’s research-led status. “Makerere is focused on being a research-led university. I congratulate our staff for the quality of their research cited in internationally recognized journals. I also thank our development partners for funding our research activities,” said Prof. Ddumba-Ssentamu.

Commenting on the latest ranking, Dr. Vincent Ssembatya, Director Quality Assurance, Makerere University commended Makerere’s prolific researchers for once again flying Makerere’s flag high. “This is the first time that Times Higher Education is ranking African Universities and for Makerere to come in 3rd indeed speaks volumes of the growing global recognition of Makerere’s research output. This is indeed no accident as recently, the Center for World-Class Universities (CWCU) which is responsible for publishing the Shanghai Ranking also expressed interest in ranking African Universities,“ he said.

By Joshua Mutale.