Does the name of the university matter?

Each country has its own elite schools where the elite are trained to take the reigns of leadership in business, politics, and technology. America has the famous Ivy League schools; like Harvard and Yale, Britain has the famous Cambridge and Oxford Universities, Ox-bridge, Uganda has the famous Makerere, and Tanzania has University of Dar-es- Salaam. Which got me thinking, does the name of the university matter when attending a Kenyan University. Which university do employers consider the most capable of producing quality graduates?  

Here are some of the assumptions that used to be:

In engineering, it was assumed that JKUAT was the best.

In Education, it was assumed that Kenyatta University was the best.

In Medicine, it was assumed that University of Nairobi- UON, was the best.

 In Business courses, it was assumed that Strathmore and USIU were the best.

In Arts courses, it was assumed that UON, Egerton, Moi, KU, Maseno, USIU, and almost all universities offer the same quality of education.

However, in hindsight, really, in Kenya, all universities are nearly the same as regards to offering quality courses. The universities face the same challenges, and therefore, the quality would not differ much. However, some of the newly emerging university colleges that have just been upgraded to full university status will have to do more to catch up with the more established universities. Therefore, in Kenya at least, it is the course that matters, and not the name of the university.

Disclaimer: This is just my personal opinion; no research has been done to verify it.

Posted in: Career Advice