By Uche Amunike
The National Universities Commission (NUC), has declared that the University of Ibadan (UI) has earned the position of best University in Nigeria, according to NUC’s 2021 ranking, which was released recently.
The ranking was carried out with the use of 12 indicators and involved a total of 113 universities.
The NUC 2021 ranking of institutions was based on the number of full time students, students and staff ratio, efficiency, international students, google scholar index and contribution to the knowledge economy.
Speaking, during a capacity building workshop on improving the rankings of public universities organised by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND), the lead presenter, Prof. Peter Okebukola, disclosed that the percentage of international staff, percentage of programs with full-time accreditation, among other factors served as criteria for choosing the best university in d country.
Okebukola, who spoke on the topic,
‘Overview of Global University Ranking and the Place of Nigerian Higher Education System in the Knowledge Economy’, said the full report would be made available to NUC and uploaded on its website.
Hear him: ‘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, University of Ibadan (UI) is the first, followed by the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA)’.
He however decried the fact that some universities did not show up for the ranking but urged them to partake in the next one, especially since it has become a yearly event.
On their part, the University of Ibadan has excitedly expressed happiness for being chosen as the best in the country, according to NUC’s 2021 ranking .
Speaking to newsmen, the Director of Public Communication of the University, Mr Tunji Oladejo stated that the university was to be among the first 100 in the world.
Relatively, the NUC’s 2021 ranking also confirmed Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho as the best state university in Nigeria and returned it as fourth-best overall.
The university’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Lekan Fadeyi, made this known to Newsmen in Ibadan, yesterday.
Recall that in November, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund TETfund collaborated with the National Universities Commission (NUC) and stakeholders in taking stock of how to improve Nigerian universities in global ranking.
They organized a capacity building workshop for public universities in Lagos State where TETfund and NUC painted the picture of poor outing by Nigerian universities in global ranking and stressed how important it was to arrest the drift.
The workshop attracted TEFFund Executive Secretary, Prof Elias Bogoro; Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Kashim Ibrahim-Iman; Deputy Executive Secretary, NUC, Dr Chris Mayaki; vice chancellors, former executive secretary, NUC, Prof Peter Okebukola; former VC, University of Ibadan, Prof Olufemi Bamiro and others.
Prof Bogoro described the workshop as a part of a series of programs that the fund has mapped out for public tertiary institutions in the country as part of their strategy to reposition that universities as catalyst for national rebirth and development.
His words: ‘The nation’s education sector is evolving and growing steadily, with challenges which are not unexpected of an emerging state. Education is critical ingredient for nation building and has continued to be a beacon for the sustainable existence of society and has been identified as the panacea for the survival of the human race’.
