Cameroon Universities Absent In African Ranking

Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon

For the third consecutive year, the eight state managed, confessionary and private universities in Cameroon are not part of the University Web Ranking according to a survey conducted by 4icu.org – 4 International Colleges & Universities.

Once more, universities in South Africa and fellow Anglo-Saxon-styled universities are topping the charts. South Africa has nine universities in the first twenty places, with University of Cape Town, South Africa at the pole position. At the second position is University of Johannesburg, South Africa. They are coming back to a position they lost to University of Cairo, Egypt in 2011. At the third position is University of Pretoria, University of Stellenbosch and University of Witwatersrand, all in South Africa are at the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

University of Buea Campus

After Ghana in 2011, the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal came at the 15th position to safe face for West African countries. In 2011, the Cheikh Anta Diop University was at the 28th position, far from the University of Ghana at the 21st position and University of Ibadan, Nigeria at the 23rd position. 2011 like in 2013, no Cameroonian universities featured in the classification.

However, while some observers have hailed the initiative from 4icu.org as a methodology to give some universities visibility and privileged reputation. Others from Francophone Africa say the criteria established by 4icu.org disfavour French speaking African universities.

Officials of 4icu.org say they focus essentially on the performance of universities and the level of their visibility. “We take into consideration the quality of a university’s website because it is fundamental in the dissemination of knowledge. It is also important for the university’s evaluation, their activities and the essence for their faculties to use the website as a medium of visibility and image building in the international scene,” noted a release from 4icu.org.

The release mentioned the top one hundred African universities. These include:

1 University of Cape Town	South Africa
2 University of South Africa	South Africa
3 University of Pretoria	South Africa
4 Universiteit Stellenbosch	South Africa
5 University of the Witwatersrand	South Africa
6 University of Dar es Salaam	Tanzania
7 Cairo University	Egypt
8 University of KwaZulu-Natal	South Africa
9 The American University in Cairo	Egypt
10 Makerere University	Uganda
11 Rhodes University	South Africa
12 University of the Western Cape	South Africa
13 Mansoura University	Egypt
14 University of Johannesburg	South Africa
15 Université Cheikh Anta Diop	Senegal
16 Assiut University	Egypt
17 University of Nairobi	Kenya
18 Zagazig University	Egypt
19 University of Botswana	Botswana
20 Université Mohammed V – Agdal	Morocco
21 University of Ghana	Ghana
22 Universiteit van die Vrystaat	South Africa
23 University of Ibadan	Nigeria
24 Addis Ababa University	Ethiopia
25 North-West University	South Africa
26 Alexandria University	Egypt
27 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University	South Africa
28 University of Zambia	Zambia
29 Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumediène	Algeria
30 The German University in Cairo	Egypt
31 Obafemi Awolowo University	Nigeria
32 Universidade Eduardo Mondlane	Mozambique
33 University of Mauritius	Mauritius
34 Ain Shams University	Egypt
35 University of Lagos	Nigeria
36 Tanta University	Egypt
37 Université de Ouagadougou	Burkina Faso
38 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology	Ghana
39 Université de la Reunion	Reunion
40 Université Nationale du Rwanda	Rwanda
41 Helwan University	Egypt
42 Cape Peninsula University of Technology	South Africa
43 University of Zululand	South Africa
44 Strathmore University	Kenya
45 Université Cadi Ayyad	Morocco
46 Al Akhawayn University	Morocco
47 Université d’Alger	Algeria
48 Université Mentouri de Constantine	Algeria
49 Université Badji Mokhtar de Annaba	Algeria
50 Université d’Oran	Algeria
51 Université Hassan II – Casablanca	Morocco
52 University of Fort Hare	South Africa
53 Université Abdelmalek Essadi	Morocco
54 Ahmadu Bello University	Nigeria
55 Jaamacada Muqdisho	Somalia
56 Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology	Kenya
57 University of Swaziland	Swaziland
58 University of Ilorin	Nigeria
59 Sudan University of Science and Technology	Sudan
60 Université Mohammed V – Souissi	Morocco
61 Kenyatta University	Kenya
62 University of Khartoum	Sudan
63 University of Namibia	Namibia
64 Université de Batna	Algeria
65 University of Malawi	Malawi
66 Benha University	Egypt
67 Université Hassan II – Mohammedia	Morocco
68 Al-Azhar University	Egypt
69 Fayoum University	Egypt
70 Université de la Manouba	Tunisia
71 University of Benin	Nigeria
72 Minoufiya University	Egypt
73 Durban University of Technology	South Africa
74 Université de Tunis El Manar	Tunisia
75 Université de Carthage	Tunisia
76 Tshwane University of Technology	South Africa
77 United States International University	Kenya
78 Université Abou Bekr Belkaid Tlemcen	Algeria
79 Polytechnic of Namibia	Namibia
80 Egerton University	Kenya
81 Université de Gabès	Tunisia
82 Université de Sousse	Tunisia
83 Université d’Antananarivo	Madagascar
84 Minia University	Egypt
85 Moi University	Kenya
86 Université de Nouakchott	Mauritania
87 Université Mouloud Maameri de Tizi Ouzou	Algeria
88 University of Venda	South Africa
89 Central University of Technology	South Africa
90 Université Ibn Tofail	Morocco
91 University of Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe
92 Suez Canal University	Egypt
93 University of Cape Coast	Ghana
94 Misr International University	Egypt
95 University of Jos	Nigeria
96 University of Maiduguri	Nigeria
97 University of Limpopo	South Africa
98 The Hubert Kairuki Memorial University	Tanzania
99 Jimma University	Ethiopia
100 Modern Sciences and Arts University	Egypt

The eight-state-sponsored and other private universities in Cameroon absent in the classification are; University of Yaounde I, University of Yaounde II, University of Douala, University of Buea, University of Dschang, University of Maroua, University of Ngaoundere, University of Bamenda, Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaounde, Catholic University of Bamenda, CATUC and the University Institute of the Diocese of Buea, UIDB.

4 International Colleges & Universities is an international higher education search engine and directory reviewing accredited Universities and Colleges in the world. 4icu.org includes 11,160 Colleges and Universities, ranked by web popularity, in 200 countries.