The Federal Government will release the 2026 national ranking of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education on December 15.
The Chairman of the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee (NiTERAC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, disclosed this in a 17-step framework for the exercise. The document was made available to our correspondent on Friday.
The exercise began on September 1. It covers public and private institutions across the three tertiary subsectors.
According to the framework, results will be published after data collection, multi-way validation, a trial ranking, review and approval by the Minister of Education.
The 17 steps include setting up institutional ranking committees, consulting Directors of Academic Planning, and agreeing on indicators and their weightings. They also include developing a ranking manual and running a pilot.
The committee will collect data from all registered institutions, including Google Scholar records and reputation surveys. The information will then go through several validation stages.
NiTERAC will approve the results and send them to the Minister of Education for final approval before publication.
The date builds on an earlier assurance by Okebukola, a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, that the 2026 ranking would not be delayed.
“On the question of timeframe for implementing the ranking, the 2026 edition will happen before the end of the year,” he said in September.
On September 30, he disclosed that universities would be assessed using 22 indicators. The weightings were agreed upon with the League of Directors of Academic Planning.
On October 23, he said the university ranking had reached the 12th of the 17 stages. He added that the rankings for polytechnics and colleges of education were also progressing.
Okebukola said thematic rankings will be introduced from 2027. They will focus on how institutions help tackle Nigeria’s development challenges.
He said the proposed indicators will look at innovations by institutions, including patents, new products and processes that solve societal problems.
The ranking was extended to polytechnics and colleges of education by the Federal Government. As a result, the committee, formerly the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee, was renamed to reflect its wider mandate.
The exercise comes as Nigerian universities gain global visibility. In the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 29 Nigerian universities featured, up from 24 in the previous edition. This makes Nigeria the most represented country in sub-Saharan Africa.
Okebukola, however, listed research funding, publication output, data management and international collaboration as areas that still need improvement.
The national ranking is expected to give institutions a domestic benchmark for measuring performance and spotting weaknesses. It is also meant to encourage better teaching, research and community service.
“The national ranking is intended to stimulate healthy internal competition among Nigerian tertiary institutions and to position the Nigerian tertiary education system for improved global ranking in the coming years,” he said.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
