The Federal Government has made participation in Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, announced this in Abuja during a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee, which has now been renamed the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee.
Alausa said the move supports President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative.
He said the ranking will promote quality, accountability, better institutional performance and global competitiveness. It will also give schools benchmarks to measure progress, spot areas needing improvement and encourage healthy competition.
The 2026/2027 university ranking exercise will begin in September, while the committee will set dates for polytechnics and colleges of education.
Alausa said the Federal Government will fund the exercise through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and issue guidelines to make it a permanent process.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, backed the initiative, saying competition would push institutions to improve.
Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola said the expanded framework could help more Nigerian institutions make progress in international rankings.
