UI emerges Best University in NUC’s 2021 ranking

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has ranked the University of Ibadan (UI) as the best in its latest 2021 ranking of Universities.

The ranking, which was carried out using 12 indicators, involved 113 universities across the country.

The lead presenter who is a Former Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Peter Okebukola, stated this during a capacity building workshop on improving the ranking of public universities in Nigeria, Organised by Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

Professor Okebukola 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.

According to him, other criteria include percentage of international staff, percentage of programmes with full time accreditation and all citation per capital.

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

Professor bogoro observed that Nigerian universities were not doing well in global ranking; hence the need to reposition and showcase them to the world.

“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,” Professor Okebukola said.

Professor Okebukola noted that some of the problems identified as hindering the progress and performance of Nigerian Universities in the global ranking of world universities was poor investment by some tiers of government.

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

The Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu, assured his audience that ranking in 2022 would be much more impressive.

Professor Okebukola, for his part, insisted that to compete with ancient universities in the world, Nigerian tertiary education needs consistent improved funding. He commended the committee for coming up with a unique template for ranking of Nigerian universities.