Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology is the second most improved in global ranking among the top ten universities in Kenya. This is according to analysis of the report published on 28th July 2023 by the Cybermetrics Laboratory, which is part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and technological progress. This ranking system has been adopted by the Government of Kenya as the Performance Monitoring and Evaluationreference system for universities and research institutes.
MMUST is currently position 4694 globally, having improved by 546 steps from the previous position 5240 in the July 2022 report. While still retaining position 9 nationally, the university is the most improved in all three Webometrics Ranking indicators namely Impact, Openness and Excellence among the Kenyan top ten.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Solomon Shibairo expressed his delight with the improvement in the ranking and applauded the Coordinator Webometrics for the efforts he has been putting in place to ensure that MMUST achieves this feat.
“It is a collective effort of the entire MMUST family and I congratulate every staff who worked towards the realization of this ranking. I want to specifically thank the coordinator Webometrics Dr. Dennis M. W. Ochieno for the relentless effort he has been putting in place to ensure we reach here” said Prof. Shibairo.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor Planning Research and Innovation Prof. Charles Mutai also appreciated the team behind this achievement led by Dr. Ochieno and the webometrics champions. He noted that it has taken a concerted effort from all stakeholders, led by the University Council, Management Board, the Senate and entire MMUST fraternity for this improvement in ranking. He encouraged researchers to continue publishing in refereed journals, which he said is a major boost towards the improvement of webometrics ranking.
According to the Director, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Commissioner Prof. Joseph Wamocha Nasongo, the current global rank is imminence of the University’s potential to gain more global visibility in the years to come.
“We highly appreciate the collective effort of the webometrics team led by Dr. Ochieno. The performance contract target for 2022/2023 financial year was to improve by only five (5) positions globally, therefore, improving by over hundred-times the initial target is an excellent achievement for the University,” said Prof.Nasongo.
Speaking after the report had been published, the Coordinator Webometrics Dr. Dennis M.W. Ochieno credited the improvement in the ranking to implementation of the Webometrics Policy and the efforts of Webometrics Champions in various sections within the University. The Webometrics champions, led by Dr. Edwin Kanda, are mandated to spearhead advocacy for good practices in research. “Improvement by 546 positions globally is a great achievement beyond our performance target”, said Dr. Kanda.
Evidently, MMUST is competing favorably as a research powerhouse and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 through transformative research outputs.
