The National University of Rwanda (NUR) has improved in the latest publication of the Webometrics Ranking of World’s Universities

NUR stands at number 35, down from number 54 in the previous ranking and is the only University in Rwanda ranked in the top 100 on the continent.

The university is also ranked at number 4,310 in the world out of a total of 8000 universities surveyed.

Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda tops the region, coming at number 15 followed by the University of Dar Es Salaam at number 24.

The University of Cape Town tops the rest on the continent while Harvard University has knocked off Massachusetts Institute of Technology off the top spot in the world.

The ranking is based on the visibility of a university on the Internet, the volume of its publications, and the general impact of the information published on its web pages aimed at promoting Web publication, supporting Open Access initiatives, electronic access to scientific publications and to other academic material.

Speaking to The New Times, the Rector of NUR Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, said that setting up of better ways on how the University conducts business has been instrumental in the improvement in the university’s ranking.

"We have improved a lot of things, especially on how we do business which has helped us to be able to publish more material on the internet,” said Lwakabamba adding that most times a lot of things are done but cannot be known if not published.

"We have been encouraging faculties to provide information on what they are doing and the different innovations they have come up with for publication which has helped us to improve our ranking this time since the ranking depends on the published material,” he said.

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