The Federal Government has commenced a national ranking exercise for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, with the process scheduled for completion by December 15, 2026.

The exercise, coordinated by the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee under the Federal Ministry of Education, is aimed at establishing a framework for measuring institutional performance and identifying areas requiring improvement.

Chairman of the committee, Prof. Peter Okebukola, disclosed this in a presentation on Nigeria’s performance in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Okebukola said the ranking followed a directive from the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, and would cover the three major categories of tertiary institutions.

He said universities would be assessed using 22 indicators, with the weightings agreed with the League of Directors of Academic Planning.

According to him, the national ranking is intended to encourage healthy competition among tertiary institutions and improve the global standing of Nigeria’s higher education system.

The exercise expands the Federal Government’s institutional assessment beyond universities to include polytechnics and colleges of education.

Okebukola’s presentation also highlighted Nigeria’s performance in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, in which 29 Nigerian universities were listed, compared with 24 in the previous edition.

The University of Ibadan, University of Lagos and Covenant University were placed in the global 801–1,000 band, while four other Nigerian universities featured in the 1,001–1,200 category.

Another 32 Nigerian universities were listed in the Reporter category, bringing the number of institutions that submitted data or participated in the ranking process to 61.

The presentation noted that only 29 of the 328 universities listed by the National Universities Commission appeared in the ranked category.

It identified research funding, publication output, institutional data management and international collaboration as areas requiring sustained attention, alongside teaching, research quality, industry engagement and international outlook.

The national ranking is expected to provide tertiary institutions with a domestic benchmark for assessing their performance, identifying gaps and planning improvements.

The committee is expected to complete data collection, validation and finalisation of the assessment framework before the December 15 deadline.