Makerere ranked 3rd on research in education

Graduates Jubilate at the 69th graduation ceremony of Makerere University on January 15. Makerere University has been ranked third among 40 top universities conducting more research on education in the sub-Saharan Africa. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA

Makerere University has been ranked third among 40 top Universities conducting more research on education in the sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the 2019 finding on “Mapping the landscape of Education Research” by scholars based in sub-Saharan Africa, the University of Botswana (Botswana) topped with the highest number of research published on education.
The University of Cape Coast (Ghana) came second while Makerere University took third position.

The findings that were conducted by professors at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education, indicates that the top three universities conducted their research on primary education, secondary education, higher education and early childhood education.

However, no institution published more than two articles on vocational education and training. The University of Botswana and the University of Ghana published the most articles on adult education with about nine articles each.
The finding further revealed that Makerere University and the University of Cape Coast have produced the greatest number of articles on informational communication technology (ICT).

The same report ranked Uganda 5th, among top eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa with the greatest number of publications with each country having more than 90 pieces.

Nigeria tops the countries with highest research publications, followed by Ghana, Kenya in the third and Tanzania in the fourth position.

The vice chancellor of Makerere University, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, protested the ranking.
He said Makerere is still ranked second in research on the continent hence it is not possible that such a research ranks it third.

“That is impossible. The University of Botswana cannot beat us because our only competitor that has challenged us in research is the University of Cape Coast and not Botswana,” Prof Nawangwe said.

He, however, said the ranking focused on a particular discipline, but in terms of general research, Makerere still holds the second position.

Prof Nawangwe also said he was yet to look at the information in the report.

The authors of the report include Prof Pauline Rose, Dr Phoebe Downing, Dr Samuel Asare, and Dr Rafael Mitchell, all from Cambridge University and it has been published on the Jacobs Foundation website.

Other rankingS
The latest 2020 World University Rankings by The Times Higher Education placed Makerere University 5th position on the Africa Continent.
The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities also placed Makerere University 16th best university in African down from the 10th, a finding University managers rejected.