The National University of Rwanda (NUR) is the 38th top university on the continent, which represents a huge leap from 77th position last year in the latest Webometrics Rankings.

NUR was the only one from Rwanda to make it in the top 50 African higher schools of learning, with the closest being Kigali Institute of Science and Technology ranked at 139 out of a total 1,325 that were ranked.

"As far as our standards are concerned, getting a rank of 38 is not a crime. There is a lot that can be improved at NUR. With hard work from everyone at the campus, we hope and target to be at least among the top 15 universities on the continent,” Elias Kiyaga, the spokesperson of the university, said in an interview yesterday.

Since 2004, the Webometrics Ranking is published twice a year, with data collected during the first weeks of January and July covering more than 20,000 higher education institutions worldwide.

From the region, University of Nairobi was ranked the highest at ninth, while Makerere University closed in at 10th position.