The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) has been ranked as the best university in Malawi by the Times Higher Education (THE) inaugural Sub-Saharan Africa University Rankings in 2023.

MUST, just nine years old, is the only Malawian university ranked based on teaching, research and societal impact.

And MUST Vice Chancellor, Professor Address Malata in an interview said the development is a motivation and an inspiration.

According to a statement issued by THE, MUST has been ranked 29th best university in Sub-Saharan Africa.

THE says Sub-Saharan Africa University Rankings have been developed specifically to assess the impact of universities in addressing some of the toughest challenges faced in the region.

“We use carefully calibrated indicators to provide comprehensive and balanced comparisons across three vital areas: teaching, research and societal impact.

’”The data include results from the first sub-Saharan Africa student survey, which gathered the opinions of more than 20,000 students,” reads a statement.

It adds that the development work for the ranking was undertaken in consultation with university leaders across sub-Saharan Africa, in a project initiated by a consortium of African and international higher education organizations and companies, which included Botho, Maverick and Mycos.

“The project was led by Ashesi University in Ghana, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. THE independently managed all data collection and calculations.

“This first edition ranks 88 universities across 20 countries. An additional 33 institutions are listed because they provided data but did not meet our eligibility criteria to receive a rank.”

In her reaction, Professor Malata said being ranked the top university in Malawi is not only an honour but humbling as well, considering MUST has well established competitors who have been around for decades.

“We are just nine years old and we started from scratch and yet we have colleagues on the market that are far much older than us.

“Even at regional level, those that have been ranked ahead of us have been around much longer. Our challenge going forward is to maintain our high standards and improve on our service offering in all aspects,” said Professor Malata.

MUST alumnus and former vice president of the Student Representative Council (SRC), Chimwemwe Kawoloka, said MUST deserves the recognistion because it has worked hard for it.

“I am very proud of MUST’s achievement and I think the university deserves recognition for what it has done and continues to do. Even out here, people are happy with our performance and professionalism,” she said.

Current SRC president, Alexander Kude, said the top ranking is a great honour to students, alumni, staff and all stakeholders.

“It gives us a great feeling and it just shows how committed everyone involved and the desire to do things differently but with quality. However, being ranked 29 in Sub Saharan Africa as a starting point is good but we need to strive for top three and that means working harder than before. Congratulations to everyone involved.”

The list is led by South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, while neighbouring University of Johannesburg is second and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania is third. University Pretoria from South Africa is fourth while Makerere University from Uganda has been ranked as fifth best university.

About two-thirds of participating universities are public institutions; a quarter are private, not-for-profit organizations; and about a tenth are private, for-profit organizations.

Times Higher Education’s mission is to be the definitive source of data, insight and expertise on higher education worldwide.

The organization’s business is built on 10 million data points from 2,500 institutions in 93 countries; on unrivalled news, insight and intelligence; and on a relationship of trust with universities spanning 50 years.-( Story credit: MUST website)

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