Laban Musinguzi

On @DailyMonitor vs @Makerere @MakerereNews over university rankings, the cliff or the tumble as portrayed by the @DailyMonitor is clear in global Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE). However, a closer look at data suggests that the overall ranking position may be misleading. Interest should instead be on scores of the indicators used in the ranking. These scores do not portray the cliff or tumble but suggest that Makerere University needs a lot of effort to post meaningful performance compared to the best in Africa. The university's best position in THE was 401-500 in 2016 which appears to be the first time the university appeared in the rankings. This remained unchanged in 2017 and 2018. From 2018, the university dropped positions in both 2019 and 2020. In 2021, it recovered to its best position of 401-500. What is clear is that since then (2021), the university has dropped three positions to its current ranking of 1201-1500. The drop from 401-500 in 2021 to 1201-1500 is a big tumble and as steep as a cliff. This collaborates the view of @DailyMonitor based on these rankings at a regional scale. Ignoring the recovery in 2021 after drops in each of 2019 and 2020, makes it reasonable to say that the tumble in the university’s global position in THE rankings started from 2018. See the table and graphs below for the trends in rankings. Isn’t the cliff clear from 2021? Apparently, universities in the same range or band are close in position and therefore the absolute position of a university in any range can be any number in the range. For illustration purposes, the limits (upper and lower) of the range and median are plotted as suggested positions of Makerere university over the given period. What is the cause of the tumble? Is the tumble important? THE gives trends in indicators used in the rankings (see second set of graphs below). Like the university noted in a rebuttal to @DailyMonitor, the trends show that the university is doing well in teaching, international outlook and research environment since 2020/2021 despite tumbles in each of these indicators in 2025. The university considerably tumbled on industry in 2022 but had stabilized this until 2024. On research quality, the university appears to be recovering from a tumble experienced between 2021 and 2023. The drop from 801-1000 in 2024 to 1201-1500 in 2025 can be explained by the drop in each of the indicators apart from research quality. However, the indicators have differing trends (optimistic) between 2021 and 2025 compared to the trend of overall ranking of the university (cliff) over the same period. This suggests that the trends in the indicators do not fully explain the overall drop in rankings of the university since 2021. Other explanations could be improved performance of other universities, new entrants into the ranking, or change in ranking methods. Verdict: The overall ranking position for any given year may be misleading. The interest of the public and who ever has interest in the university should instead be on scores for the indicators. The ranking position is much like result 1 that UNEB used for UCE learners which makes sense for all students until you look at subject scores. A lesson from this is that in the past, the university may have been applauded pointlessly. This becomes noticeable when you compare its scores for each of the indicators for 2016-2025 to those of the University of Cape Town which has a global ranking of 180 in 2025. This comparison indicates that to post meaningful performance, Makerere University has to double or triple scores for most of the indicators. This needs a lot of effort. Whether the university is on track or not, is another issue. The university's rebuttals should also avoid using better absolute ranking positions such as we are 7th in Africa etc., and instead use scores against a reasonable target like the scores of the University of Cape Town. Data source: timeshighereducation.com/wor…