Chairman of the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee (NiTERAC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, has tasked Nigerian universities need to strengthen their global academic reputation, research output and international partnerships if the country is to improve its performance in global university rankings.
Key Highlights
- NiTERAC Chairman Prof. Peter Okebukola has urged Nigerian universities to strengthen their global academic reputation, research output and international partnerships.
- Nigeria recorded 29 universities in the 2027 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, up from 24 in 2026.
- Nigeria had the highest number of ranked universities in sub-Saharan Africa, with 29 of the region’s 69 ranked institutions.
- Okebukola identified academic reputation as a major area for improvement, noting that it accounts for 33% of THE’s overall ranking score.
- Nigerian universities were encouraged to increase participation in international conferences, joint research, visiting-professor programmes and diaspora academic networks.
Okebukola made the observation while assessing Nigeria’s performance in the 2027 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings released on Wednesday.
The latest ranking assessed 2,297 universities across 118 countries and territories, with 29 Nigerian universities securing positions, compared with 24 in the 2026 edition. Nigeria also recorded the highest number of ranked institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, which had 69 universities featured.
According to Okebukola, the growth in the number of Nigerian universities appearing in the global ranking should be accompanied by greater attention to areas where the country remains comparatively weak.
“The increase in the number of Nigerian universities featured in the ranking should also prompt closer attention to the areas where the country continues to lag,” he said.
He identified global academic reputation as a major factor that could improve Nigeria’s standing, noting that reputation-related indicators account for 33 per cent of the overall THE ranking score.
Okebukola said Nigerian institutions can improve their international visibility by taking part more actively in global academic conferences, pursuing joint research projects, attracting visiting professors and strengthening relationships with academics and alumni in the diaspora.
“Nigerian universities could improve their international academic standing by participating more actively in international conferences, undertaking joint research, attracting visiting professors and strengthening links with academics and alumni in the diaspora,” he said.
The former executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) also called for greater investment in research, higher research productivity, improved institutional data reporting and increased doctoral output.
He further identified international collaboration and academic mobility, stronger engagement with industry and increased patenting as areas requiring greater attention.
His assessment showed that research quality was Nigeria’s strongest pillar in the latest ranking, with a mean score of 43.3. Research environment recorded 13.9, while teaching had a mean score of 20.6.
In the 2027 ranking, Covenant University, the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos jointly occupied Nigeria’s highest position, with all three institutions placed in the 801–1000 global band.
Covenant University improved from the 1001–1200 band in the 2026 edition, while the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos retained their positions in the latest ranking.
Four other Nigerian universities, Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero University, Landmark University and the University of Ilorin, were placed in the 1001–1200 band.
This brought the number of Nigerian universities ranked among the world’s top 1,200 institutions to seven.
Okebukola noted that federal universities continue to dominate Nigeria’s upper ranking bands, accounting for five of the seven institutions placed within the global top 1,200.
The institutions are the University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, University of Ilorin, Ahmadu Bello University and Bayero University.
He said the number of federal universities in the top 1,200 increased from three in 2026 to five in 2027, while their share of Nigeria’s institutions in that band rose from 60 percent to 71.4 percent.
Overall, the 2027 ranking featured 19 federal universities, seven state universities and three private universities from Nigeria.
A further 32 Nigerian institutions were listed as Reporter institutions after submitting data but failing to meet the requirements for inclusion in the ranked table.
Of the Reporter institutions, 16 are private universities, 12 are state-owned institutions and four are federal universities.
Okebukola said the latest results should be used as a diagnostic tool for assessing the Nigerian higher education system and provide empirical evidence for the work of NiTERAC.
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He noted that international university rankings increasingly evaluate institutions using indicators covering areas such as teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
THE describes its World University Rankings as an assessment of research-intensive universities based on their core missions.
Against this backdrop, Okebukola disclosed that NiTERAC had begun work on a national ranking system covering Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
He said the exercise was initiated following a directive from the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, and is expected to be completed before December 15, 2026.
According to Okebukola, the national ranking is intended to encourage healthy competition among tertiary institutions while helping Nigerian institutions identify areas requiring improvement and strengthen the country’s overall performance in global rankings.
He said the exercise would complement international rankings by helping institutions assess gaps in areas such as research environment, doctoral output and academic reputation.
