NUC rates University of Ibadan best varsity in Nigeria

The National Universities Commission has released its latest rankings of universities in Nigeria, rating the University of Ibadan as the best.

The lead presenter, Prof. Peter Okebukola, disclosed this in Abuja at a capacity building workshop on improving the ranking of public universities in Nigeria, organised by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.

He said the ranking involved 113 universities across the country using 12 indicators.

He said the institutions were ranked based on total number of full-time students, number of international students, students and staff ratio, efficiency, google scholar index and contribution to knowledge economy.

Other criteria were percentage of international staff, programmes with full time accreditation, all citation per capital, among others.

“You cannot get any form of ranking system in the whole wide world that does what Nigeria has done. For this 2021 edition, based on the 12 indicators that we have developed, the University of Ibadan is the first followed by Federal University of Technology Akure,” he said.

He said some universities did not show up for the ranking, urging them to partake in the next one.

He said the full report of the ranking covering the best university in each region of the country with detailed statistics would be released soonest.

 

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof Elias Bogoro, said the workshop was part of the strategies to reposition the university system in Nigeria.

He said Nigerian universities were not doing well in global ranking, hence the need to reposition and showcase them to the world.

He said, “The situation is so unfortunate and worrisome that it calls for reflection and action on the part of the government, the Nigerian intelligentsia and indeed the Nigerian people.

“It is challenging in the sense that the success of our universities is tied to the progress and development of the nation. If the Asian countries were able rise to such enviable place along the ranking of world universities, nothing stops Nigerian universities from making similar progress if they are so determined.

“Some of the problems identified as hindering the progress and performance of Nigerian Universities in the global ranking of world universities include: Poor investment by some tiers of government in the development of universities.”

Speaking on “Requirement for Strengthening Nigerian Universities for Higher Global Ranking,” Bogoro said Nigerian universities must be repositioned to be competitive and to take the lead in research and innovation to promote the growth of our country and its economy.

 

He also encouraged all lectures to aspire to have PhD as teaching requirements.

On his part, the executive secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu, assured that ranking in 2022 will be much more Impressive.

 

He said in order to compete with ancient universities in the world, Nigerian tertiary education need consistent improved funding, while commending the committee for coming up with a unique template for ranking of Nigerian universities.