The Federal Government has made participation in Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as part of efforts to strengthen quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness across the sector.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced the decision in Abuja on Monday during a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee, which has been expanded and renamed the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee.
Alausa said the ranking framework would provide tertiary institutions with clear benchmarks for assessing their performance, identifying areas requiring improvement and measuring progress.
He disclosed that the 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities would commence in September, while the expanded advisory committee would determine the timeline for extending the exercise to polytechnics and colleges of education.
According to the minister, the Federal Government would develop guidelines to institutionalise the ranking exercise and formally communicate the compulsory participation policy to Vice-Chancellors and heads of other tertiary institutions.
He added that funding support for the exercise was expected through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
“The ranking framework will provide institutions with clear benchmarks for assessing performance, identifying areas for improvement and measuring progress,” Alausa said.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, described the initiative as a significant step towards strengthening accountability and improving the quality of tertiary education in Nigeria.
She said the exercise should cover both public and private institutions, noting that healthy competition would encourage schools to identify their strengths and weaknesses, address existing gaps and improve the quality of education they provide.
“Healthy competition will encourage institutions to assess their strengths and weaknesses, address identified gaps and consistently improve the quality of education they provide,” Ahmad said.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the advisory committee, Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, said the committee’s engagement with the minister followed its call for increased investment in university education to sustain the growing global recognition of Nigerian institutions.
Okebukola welcomed the expansion of the committee’s mandate to include polytechnics and colleges of education, expressing optimism that sustained investment, improved institutional capacity and a unified national ranking framework would strengthen the competitiveness of Nigerian tertiary institutions.
“Sustained investment, stronger institutional capacity and a unified national ranking framework will enable more Nigerian tertiary institutions to compete confidently with leading institutions across the world,” he said.
The Federal Government said the initiative forms part of ongoing efforts to reposition Nigeria’s tertiary education system and improve the global standing and competitiveness of the country’s institutions.
