The Federal Government has made participation in Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.
The move is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness within Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced the policy in Abuja during a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), which has now 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 over time.
He disclosed that the 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities would commence in September, while the newly constituted 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 also said funding support for the exercise was expected through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, described the initiative as a significant step towards strengthening accountability and quality across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
Ahmad stressed that the ranking exercise should cover both public and private institutions, noting that healthy competition among institutions would encourage them to assess their strengths and weaknesses, address identified gaps and consistently improve the quality of education they provide.
Chairman of the advisory committee, Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, said the committee’s engagement with the minister followed its call for greater investment in university education to sustain the growing global recognition of Nigerian institutions.
Okebukola welcomed the expansion of the committee’s mandate, expressing optimism that sustained investment, stronger institutional capacity and a unified national ranking framework would enable more Nigerian tertiary institutions to compete confidently with leading institutions globally.
The Federal Government’s decision is expected to place greater emphasis on measurable institutional performance while encouraging universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to continuously improve their standards and competitiveness.
