The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has expanded Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking framework to cover universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah.
According to the statement, Alausa announced the development at a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), noting that participation in the ranking exercise is now compulsory for all tertiary institutions.
Alausa said the expanded framework is part of President Bola Tinubu’s education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda, implemented through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI).
He said the initiative is aimed at strengthening quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
“The ranking will provide institutions with clear benchmarks for assessing their performance, identifying areas requiring improvement and measuring progress, while promoting healthy competition and continuous institutional advancement,” he said.
The minister disclosed that the 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities would begin in September, while the committee would determine a suitable timeline for extending it to polytechnics and colleges of education.
He added that the Federal Government would fund the exercise through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
Alausa said TETFund would develop guidelines to institutionalise the ranking and formally notify vice-chancellors and heads of other tertiary institutions that participation is compulsory.
He assured the committee of the ministry’s commitment to providing policy direction, funding and capacity-building support to make the ranking credible and sustainable.
“The ministry will work with the committee to facilitate in-service training and institutional capacity-building programmes across tertiary institutions, with the expectation that significantly more Nigerian institutions will achieve greater global recognition in subsequent international ranking exercises,” he said.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, described the initiative as a major step towards strengthening accountability and quality across the tertiary education system.
Ahmad said healthy competition is essential to push institutions to assess their performance and improve the quality of education they provide.
“Ranking should cover both public and private institutions, as this will provide a mechanism for establishing and maintaining minimum standards across the sector,” she said.
She assured the committee of the ministry’s full support, adding that the exercise would help institutions identify their strengths and weaknesses.
The Chairman of NURAC, Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, congratulated President Tinubu on the increasing number of Nigerian universities gaining global recognition.
Okebukola, a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), called for greater investment in university education to accelerate progress.
“The committee’s mandate has now been expanded to cover polytechnics and colleges of education, leading to its transformation into the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee,” he said.
He expressed optimism that sustained investment and stronger institutional capacity would help more Nigerian institutions make significant progress in international rankings.
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