The University of Namibia (UNAM) announced that according to various 2021 university ranking systems such as Times Higher Education Index, UniRank, Scimago and Nature Index, (UNAM) is ranked first in Namibia and forms part of the top 100 in Africa’s 290 universities.
UNAM Acting Communications and Marketing Director, John Haufiku in a statement Wednesday said that these rankings, published a month ago, are a key indicator of UNAM’s significant contributions towards the development of knowledge and society through conducting quality research with societal impact. It also indicates the tally of academic research published in indexed journals.
The 2021 Nature Index shows UNAM as number one in Namibia and 84th in Africa, out of 290 universities. This listing, according to Nature Index, is based on an institution’s or country’s publication output in 82 natural-science journals, selected on the reputation by an independent panel of leading scientists in their fields.
UniRank, an international higher education ranking directory and search engine, ranked UNAM as the top university in Namibia and 24th in Africa respectively.
According to Scimago Institutions Rankings (SIR), UNAM is ranked first in Namibia, 74th in Africa and 784th in global rankings, while the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) has a global rank of 863rd and occupies its last position in Africa at 120th. The International University of Management (IUM) was unranked.
SIR is based on a weighted performance in a combination of indicators that include research performance (50 per cent), innovation outputs (30 per cent), and societal impact as measured by web visibility from the institution’s website and mentions from social networks (20 per cent), the statement explained.
Haufiku said the SIR rankings are an attestation to UNAM’s position as a leading institution.
“Despite the 2020 knock from the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively impacted the university’s overall standing in Africa and globally, UNAM’s academics took to publishing during the lockdown and increased their research outputs resulting in an improved research ranking,” he added.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
