Nigeria has been passionately concerned with university rankings for the last two decades. The Ranking Web of Universities (Webometrics) and the Times Higher Education (THE) and QS rankings are avidly followed.
Last year 24 universities were included in the THE World University Rankings, led by the University of Ibadan, which reached the 800-1000 band. Representation in the QS world rankings was much lower and only two institutions, the Universities of Ibadan and Lagos reached the 1001-1200 band.
Recently, the Federal Government has launched a campaign to upgrade the quality of Nigerian higher education institutions, including polytechnics and colleges of education. It is hoped that this will influence the sector to become internationally competitive.
According to an article in WITHIN NIGERIA, the Government’s rationale is that “if universities can be pushed to compete and improve through ranking pressure, why not extend the same logic to polytechnics and colleges of education, institutions that arguably need the scrutiny just as much, if not more?”
All institutions are expected to take part in the ranking exercise, which will be funded by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. Universities will be expected to submit data this month, with polytechnics and colleges of education following at a later date.
Source:
WITHIN NIGERIA