Strathmore records big decline in Africa university rankings

Strathmore University’s ranking in Africa has dropped to the lowest level in years as local public universities outshone their private peers in a new survey.

The July ranking of global universities by Spanish Research firm Webometrics places Strathmore at 129 in Africa, marking the lowest position for the leading private institution that achieved its best ranking at 12 in the continent in January 2009.

This came as the University of Nairobi (UoN) retained its top position in Kenya but dropped two places to 14 in Africa compared to the January rankings, going by the survey released on Friday.

The rankings are done online, assessing institution’s relative use of the Internet in teaching and dissemination of research works.

This means that Strathmore, which is now ranked seventh in Kenya, has been overtaken by its local and African peers in the adoption of modern teaching tools.

Public universities have emerged as the most competitive as measured by the Webometrics’ study, with the state-owned institutions dominating the top ten slots in terms of volume and quality of research.

Webometrics’ survey is seen as a useful proxy to compare the regional competitiveness of the tertiary institutions, with other studies like the Academic Ranking of World Universities limiting their coverage to top global universities.

“The web presence and visibility are probably the best proxies for describing the overall performance of the universities in the 21st century, and possibly they are also the only ones able to classify all of them in a confident way,” Webometrics said in a statement.

Local universities, including Strathmore, have been using the Webometrics rankings to market their courses to local and international students. Institutions ranked higher also enjoy greater prestige that is key in attracting donors and visiting scholars.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), local institutions attracting few foreign learners due to their low prestige.

US universities enroll about 16.6 per cent of foreign university students followed by the UK with a 13 per cent market share, according to OECD. South Africa is estimated to control two per cent of the international university student population.

Kenya and most other African countries attract less than one per cent, limiting their share of the multi-billion-shilling spend on foreign tertiary education due to lower global prestige.

Locally, however, public universities are ranked higher at a time when competition for self-sponsored learners is rising. Maseno University was ranked second in the country, moving up ten places to 21 in Africa.

UoN, however, leads by a wide margin with its global ranking at 1,624 compared to the rest of its local peers who are placed below 2,000 internationally.

Kenyatta University is third locally and its continental slot fell to 53 in July from 19 in January. Moi University is fourth in Kenya and is at 87 in Africa, slipping from the previous 48.

Egerton University is placed fifth in the country, having dropped to 94 in Africa from 80 before.

The rankings show that at the continental level, all local universities fared worse in the latest survey, with Strathmore recording the biggest decline.

The low uptake of modern technologies in Africa has seen universities in the developed world dominate rankings as they improve their research and teaching. Kenyan universities are yet to offer local degrees on a pure online platform, citing high initial costs and a deep-seated culture of classroom teaching.

South Africa’n universities took up the top seven spots in Africa, led by University of Kwazulu Natal. Globally, Harvard replaced Stanford at the pole position.

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