Makerere ranks ninth in research in Africa

The university moves from 12th position last year, an indication of improved output.

Makerere University is the ninth best research institution in Africa, a new report on research and scientific output has revealed. The Scimago Institutions Rankings (SIR) 2012, focuses on the scientific output of higher education institutions and research-focused organisations, shows that this was an improvement from the 12th position last year.

Makerere was the only Ugandan university that featured in the rankings. Dr Vincent Ssembatya, the director of Quality Assurance at Makerere University, said this means that prospective students would be joining an institution where knowledge is not only generated but its research is recognised internationally.

Mr Ssembatya said the university achieved the position by placing more emphasis on research. “For any of our doctor of philosophy students to graduate, he or she must produce two publications in internationally-acclaimed peer-reviewed journals,” Dr Ssembatya told the Saturday Monitor on Thursday.

The don, however, said to further improve its ranking, the government needs to invest more in research. Presently, the government gives the institution a block fee, which the university’s administrators spend on food, accommodation and administration, leaving less for research.

The university relies largely on development partners such as Sweden, Norway, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Foundation for funding.

The SIR report seeks to provide “useful information” to institutions, policy makers and research managers to analyse, evaluate and improve their research results.

The report evaluates six indicators: the total number of the institution’s documents published in scholarly journals, the institution’s output produced in collaboration with foreign institutions and the relationship between the institution’s average scientific impact and the world average