Kaimenyi asks CUE to develop criteria for varsity rankings

Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has asked the Commission for University Education (CUE) to develop criteria by which local universities can be ranked in terms of the excellence of academic programmes they offer.

Prof Kaimenyi said that the ranking would promote fair and realistic competition among the country's universities and eventually improve the quality of academic programmes that they offer.

“CUE will have to consult widely with key stakeholders such as the representatives of public and private universities in coming up with the programme,” said the Cabinet secretary.

Prof Kaimenyi, in a circular dated September 26, to the secretary and chief executive officer of CUE, said the ranking will help take into account the unique circumstances of various universities in the country.

“Although local universities have been subject to several global initiatives (that) rank universities and academic programmes, they did not take into account the unique circumstances of various countries when conducting the ranking exercise,” said the Cabinet secretary.

He said the global ranking might have created some element of bias and unfairness in the ranking criteria.