Public Universities Steal Top Slots As Kenya Dominates In Top 100 University Ranking [LIST]

The recently released 2024 Top 100 Best Academic Institutions list compiled by Edurank showcased how public universities in Kenya continue to prevail over their private counterparts, with seven of them claiming the top 10 spots nationally.

Edurank, an independent metric-based ranking of 14,131 universities from 183 countries worldwide, revealed that the University of Nairobi (UoN) stood out from the rest at the top in the whole country.

Notably, it was also ranked 8th in Africa and 824 in the world, as well as being the only Kenyan University to be ranked in the top 2,000 universities worldwide.

Ranking of the top 10 universities in Kenya 2024. /VIRAL TEA KE

Its ranking was based on three factors: research output (EduRank's index has 17,002 academic publications and 254,746 citations attributed to the university), non-academic reputation, and the impact of 94 notable alumni.

Coming in second was Kenyatta University, which was ranked 38th in Africa and 2,232 worldwide.

The Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), famed for its campus in Juja, Kiambu County, came in third and was ranked at 53rd position continentally and 2,702 globally. 

Strathmore University was the only private university to have made the top five. It was also ranked 68th in Africa and 3,150 globally.

Other universities which featured in the top 100 list were Moi University (73), Mount Kenya University (81), and Egerton University (83). 

Technical University (138), Pwani University (150) and Catholic University of Eastern Africa, popularly known as CUEA (152) completed the top 10 universities nationally.

Edurank also revealed Kenya's dominance in East Africa in terms of universities represented in the ranking with 7 universities in the Top 100 Africa list. 

Comparatively, Tanzania had 3 universities on the list with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) tying at 2. No other EAC member state had any of its academic institutions appear in the top 100 African universities. 

Tanzanian universities that made the top 100 list were; the University of Dar es Salaam (25), Sokoine University of Agriculture (49), and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (94). 

Despite Uganda only having two institutions in the top 100, Makerere University was the top university in EAC and 7th continentally.

The Kampala-based century-old university was further ranked 819 globally with a 50 per cent acceptance rate. 

Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda was ranked 95th in Africa and 3,363 globally. 

Despite being embroiled in civil wars for decades, DRC had the following institutions ranked in the top 100; the University of Kinshasa (54) and the University of Lubumbashi (89). 

The rankings are determined by analyzing 555,000 citations received by 52,900 academic publications made by 63 universities from Kenya, the popularity of 130 recognized alumni, and the largest reference database available.