Research attributed for improved varsity rankings

The new International Colleges and Universities Website (4iCU) rankings of the different higher institutions of learning recently released, placed Makerere University at 18 among the best performing and reputable universities in Africa.
The rankings also placed Ndejje University at number 42 out of 200 while Mbarara University of Science and Technology comes in at 73. Uganda Christian University was positioned at number 91.

South African Universities - University of Cape Town, University of South Africa, University of Pretoria, Universities Stellenbosch, University of the Witwatersrand, North-West University, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes University, University of Johannesburg and University of the Western Cape - took the first 10 positions on the continent.

4icu.org ranks 12,273 colleges and universities based on reviews and web rankings in 200 countries.
Unlike other rankings such as Webometrics and QS World University Rankings, 4iCU’s ranking is based on the quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of the faculty members, the quality of research and provision of consulting services to governments and educational institutions that aspire to achieve world-class standards.

QS highlight the world’s top universities in five individual faculty areas: arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life sciences and medicine, natural sciences, and social sciences plus management, are done using six performance indicators namely; academic reputation (40 per cent), employment reputation (10 percent), student-to-faculty ratio (20 per cent), citations per faculty (20 per cent), international faculty ratio (5 per cent) and international student ratio (5 per cent),

Research
Webometrics, whose biggest parameter is visibility (at 50 per cent) considers the number of websites linking to the university’s domain.

According to the vice chancellor of Ndejje University, Prof. Eriabu Lugujjo, the institution is the second best university in the country and highly ranked private university because of the investment injected especially in research to ensure that the students get the best education services under a conducive learning environment. “Being a private university, we have to sacrifice and also take risks to ensure that we have the facilities that the students need as well as the best teaching staff,” Prof. Lugujjo said yesterday.

According to Joseph Collins Ssemmanda, the institution’s senior public relations manager, Ndejje University has some of the best facilities for science and engineering courses at its main campus in Luweero.
“Through its research programme, Ndejje University has managed to set up a robotics as well as renewable energy projects, among other programmes,” he said, adding “We have extra-mural programmes and ensure that students – about 8,000 - experience a holistic approach to learning.”
The continued success over 20 years can be attributed to the commitment of our staff, who are recruited basing on experience of staff.

Established in 1992, the institution has also invested highly in sports over the last 10 years. The strategy has yielded fruits, with Ndejje boasting of a basketball team in the top flight league as well as being the reigning champion in East African University games.

“The strategy is to offer scholarships to talented students as well as providing state of the art sports facilities,” the sports tutor Paul Mark Kayongo explains.

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