They were very painful but now everyone can see they are paying off.
The university has done a lot that I think has contributed to this success.
It is not a mean achievement because if you are ranked top, then you must have done something.
But, basically, within our core mandate, this ranking has everything to do with the research, quality and relevance of the students we are producing.
It has also something to do with efficiency, in terms of the management of finances and the general running of the institution.
As a university, we continue to carry out research. We are heavily attracting research funds to do research on relevant areas.
We are also publishing papers, many papers as we have set out to do. They are relevant papers that focus on modern-day challenges.
The University of Nairobi is also producing students within the needs of the country. Our students are relevant to today's needs and challenges.
For example, when the government requested us to produce students within the big four – food security, housing, manufacturing and universal health – we did exactly that.
Remember, Big Four is the government development blueprint and we need people to drive it. We, as the university, produced those people, students.
That was the case with the sustainable development goals. We are producing many students under these categories and the Big Four.
We have tried to manage our finances properly. Unlike in the past, we have tried to reduce or cut costs through the reforms that we instituted.
We limited the duplication of offices within the university. The duplication was bringing unnecessary costs and inefficiencies.
We made sure that was addressed because if you don't make good use of the limited resources you have, then you end up attracting huge debts and that may not be efficient for the university.
I remember these reforms were fought because some thought they were rendering them jobless. But now, we can all see the fruits of what we were trying to do.
The UoN vice chancellor spoke to the Star
