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, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this as the government expanded the national ranking exercise to cover more categories of tertiary institutions.

The ranking exercise was previously focused primarily on universities but will now include polytechnics and colleges of education.

The government said the move was aimed at promoting transparency, accountability and healthy competition among tertiary institutions.

The exercise is also expected to provide students, parents and other stakeholders with information to assess the performance and quality of institutions across the country.

Institutions will be assessed using approved criteria designed to measure areas including academic performance, infrastructure, research and other indicators of institutional effectiveness.

The government said compulsory participation would ensure that institutions were assessed under a common national framework.

The ranking initiative is part of wider efforts to improve the quality and global competitiveness of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

The Federal Government said the exercise would also encourage institutions to identify areas requiring improvement and strengthen their performance.

The expanded ranking system will therefore provide a broader assessment of Nigeria’s tertiary education sector, covering universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.