The University of Nairobi (UoN) dropped 145 places in the latest global university rankings released on Monday, June 12.
In the ranking done by UniRank, a leading international higher education directory, the institution was placed at position 924 globally with a 77.81 score. Previously, the institution had been ranked at 779.
The university, however, scooped the top position in the country and eleventh on the continent.
While ranking the top universities in Kenya, Kenyatta University scooped second place with a score of 66.92. Strathmore University, United States International University Africa (USIU) and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) were ranked among the top five institutions.
Egerton University, Mount Kenya University, Moi University, Technical University of Kenya and the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) rounded up the top ten list.
St. Paul's University dropped from third to 25th position - indicating the largest drop in the country's rankings.
Riara University was placed 38th with a score of 29.43. The university was lauded for offering courses and programs leading to officially recognised higher education degrees in several areas of study.
The ranking was based on the following criteria; being chartered, licensed or accredited by the appropriate Kenyan higher education-related organisation, offering at least three-year bachelor's degrees or postgraduate master's or doctoral degrees and delivering courses predominantly in a traditional, non-distance education format.
"UniRank aims to provide a non-academic League Table of the top Kenyan Universities based on valid, unbiased and non-influenceable web metrics provided by independent web intelligence sources rather than data submitted by the Universities themselves," the statement read in part.
On May 15, 2023, UoN also dropped 20 places in a ranking done by the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) to scoop position 1,425 globally.
CWUR used four indicators to rank the universities: Education, Employability, Faculty and Research rank. UoN performed poorly in its employability rank, indicating that most of its graduates were finding it hard to transition to the job market.
However, the institution's research hub performed well globally and was ranked position 1365.
In total, CWUR surveyed 20,531 institutions and 47 universities from the country did not make a cut of the top 2,000. In East Africa, UoN came second after Uganda's Makerere University, ranked 950 globally.
