By Ngozi Nwankwo
Federal Government has made participation in the national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, announced this on Tuesday during a meeting with members of the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee, NURAC, in Abuja.
With the expansion, NURAC will now be known as the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee. It will advise on ranking across all three categories of tertiary institutions.
Alausa said the move is part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda and is being implemented through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative, NESRI.
“The expanded ranking framework is designed to strengthen quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness within Nigeria’s tertiary education sector,” he said.
The Minister said the 2026/2027 university ranking exercise will commence in September 2026, while the committee will determine an appropriate timeline for extending the exercise to polytechnics and colleges of education.
He said the exercise will provide institutions with measurable benchmarks to evaluate performance identify weaknesses and track improvements.
“The ranking system will also encourage healthy competition among institutions and promote continuous improvement in teaching, research, innovation and other areas of institutional performance,” Alausa added.
The Federal Government will fund the initiative through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, and develop guidelines to institutionalise the process.
The Ministry of Education will formally notify vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts that participation is mandatory.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, said the expansion is an important step toward improving accountability and quality across the sector.
“Healthy competition among institutions will encourage them to assess their performance, identify deficiencies and take deliberate steps to improve the quality of education they provide,” she said.
She stressed that the ranking should cover both public and private institutions to establish and sustain minimum standards.
Chairman of the committee and former NUC Executive Secretary, Emeritus Professor Peter Okebukola, said the committee had earlier called for increased investment to sustain Nigerian universities’ progress in international rankings.
He said Alausa’s response went beyond the proposal by expanding the mandate to include polytechnics and colleges of education.
“With sustained investment, improved capacity and this national ranking framework, more Nigerian tertiary institutions can gain international recognition and compete favourably with leading institutions worldwide,” Okebukola said.
Alausa assured the committee of policy direction, funding and capacity-building support to make the exercise credible and sustainable.
