Written by Faith Mwende
Kenyatta University has outperformed the University of Nairobi in the newly released Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, reaffirming its position as Kenya’s top-ranked institution.
The rankings, published on Thursday, October 9, evaluated 2,191 universities from 115 countries and territories, assessing them on educational quality, research strength, innovation, and overall societal impact.
In Kenya, Kenyatta University emerged first, followed by the University of Nairobi in second place. Egerton University and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology secured the third and fourth spots, respectively.
Both Kenyatta University and the University of Nairobi were placed in the 1000 to 1500 band globally, a decline from the previous year’s ranking, where they featured between the 500 and 1000 range. Despite the drop, Kenyatta University outshined UoN in several key areas, including good health and well-being, quality of learning experience, financial stability, and research output.
Kabarak University took fifth place locally, followed by Karatina University, Kibabii University, and Machakos University in sixth, seventh, and eighth positions, respectively. Mount Kenya University came ninth, while Murang’a University of Technology and Riara University rounded out the top eleven.
Globally, the University of Oxford maintained its dominance, claiming the top spot, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) coming second. Princeton University and the University of Cambridge followed in third place, while Harvard University and Stanford University tied for fifth. The California Institute of Technology ranked seventh, with Imperial College London and the University of California, Berkeley completing the top ten.
Of the top ten global institutions, seven were from the United States, while three hailed from the United Kingdom, highlighting the continued dominance of Western universities in higher education.
In a statement, Times Higher Education said,
“We used 18 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry, and governments.”
The organization added that,
“World University Rankings are the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions, including teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.”
The results reinforce the growing competitiveness of Kenya’s higher education sector even as local universities face financial and infrastructural challenges in maintaining global standards.
