University of Malawi (Unima) is delighted at its inclusion in the 2026 Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) Global 2000 Rankings that has seen it being the only Malawian university on the list.
The rankings released on Monday put Unima, the country’s first public university established in 1965, on position 1 568 globally. But the position is a decline from 1 499 in 2025, 1 394 in 2024 and 1 389 in 2023.
Unima Vice-Chancellor Professor Samson Sajidu expressed delight in an interview yesterday, saying it enhances stakeholders’ trust in the quality of education the university offers.
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He said the university will continue promoting multidisciplinary research and strengthening quality of teaching and learning through curriculum review and integration of emerging technologies to maintain international competitiveness.
Meanwhile, education expert Limbani Nsapato said maintaining higher ranking is important because it reflects quality of education and credibility of institutions of higher learning.
He said local universities need to invest more in quality research, infrastructure and human resources to improve their standing internationally.
In a separate interview, Civil Society Education Coalition executive director Benedicto Kondowe said Malawi has considerable ground to cover in building a higher education system that is globally competitive.
He said: “Institutions of higher learning in the country face challenges including low investment in research, inadequate research infrastructure, limited postgraduate and doctoral programmes, weak international research collaborations, and insufficient publication output in high-impact journals.”
The CWUR rankings assess universities based on quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty and research performance.
CWUR says it does not rely on surveys or data submitted by universities but instead uses independently sourced data and research indicators.
This year’s rankings covered 21 291 universities worldwide and were compiled using analysis of 81 million data points.
South Africa’s Wits University emerged as Africa’s highest-ranked institution at position 200 while Harvard University got top position.
