MKU emerges top 3 in new rankings ahead of their 26th graduation ceremony

Dr. Bernard Kanoi, Using the Illumina NextSeq 1000 machine

Mount Kenya University (MKU) has been ranked among the Top Three institutions in the Times Higher Education Sub-Saharan Africa University Ranking as it sets to celebrate the 26th graduation ceremony on Friday next week.

More than 7,000 graduands are expected to graduate in a ceremony presided over by the university Chancellor, Prof John Struthers and guest speaker, Amb Eunice Kigenyi, Deputy High commissioner, Uganda High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya. 

The fete scheduled for Friday December 6^th is themed “Internationalization of University Education towards Development of a Competitive Global Workforce."

The Thika-based institution has been categorized position three out of 15 Kenyan ranked universities that met the requirements to be considered in the ranking, emerging top among the academic giants. Times Higher Education Sub-Saharan ranking featured 129 universities from 22 countries in the region.

Regionally, the institution was ranked number 32 out of 129 Sub-Saharan universities stamping its recognition regionally as a top academic destination university. Times Higher Education Ranking is a globally recognised ranking that runs several strategic rankings that recognizes the best performing universities in different disciplines.

The university continues to implement different policies and strategies to enhance access and affordable quality education to all people in Africa and beyond.

One of the key methodologies by the ranking was “assess the impact of universities in addressing some of the toughest challenges faced in the region” where MKU has notably invested in state-of -the-art facilities such as the institute of tropical medicine which fosters research towards cross cutting diseases affecting the region.

At the Center for Malaria Elimination MKU acquired the Illumina NextSeq 1000 machine, the first next-generation sequencer to be owned by an educational institution in Kenya. This cutting-edge, high-throughput platform places MKU at the forefront of genomic research, uniquely equipped to tackle critical health challenges. The sequencer machine is utilized in cancer research, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) studies, and the investigation of infectious tropical diseases.

MKU has created a seamless relationship between teaching and research leading to employable graduates and recognition of researchers such as Dr. Joyce Gikandi by National Research Fund. “Our students are making ground breaking innovations and have been featured in key innovations such as Huawei IT challenge, Zindigi Challenge, AI Hackathon Competition, Ayute Challenge amongst others,” the university said in a statement.

MKU underscored its commitment to transformative research. As the only university in Kenya with such advanced capabilities, we prioritize impactful research while fostering collaborations with key strategic partners such as JICA, UNESCO- KNATCOM, UN Volunteers, among others.