The National Universities Commission (NUC) has released University ranking for 2021.
The ranking system, among other things, is to determine the performance of universities in the country and identify areas where funds could be preferentially allocated and applied.
The ranking has since generated controversies among educationists in the country.
According to the NUC, this ranking was made from analysis of twelve indicators. From the list, the best University in Nigeria is the University of Ibadan in Oyo state
NUC said the ranking was an important factor in stimulating quality.
Among the 196 universities in the country, 113 were ranked. Academic directors from 91 institutions participated in drawing the formula for the ranking. To ensure fairness, the 12 parameters for the ranking were agreed upon by all the contributors after a series of preparatory workshops.
Thereafter, an online platform for data entry was set up, while the data entered by accredited officials of each university were validated by teams of Directors of Academic Planning and cross-validated with records from the NUC.
Among the parameters used in the ranking is the ratio of students to teachers, whereby the number of fulltime equivalent (FTE) students in the university is divided by the number of fulltime teachers in the institution. Under this parameter, Legacy University came out top, while Spiritan University, Augustine University and Iginedion University were second, third and fourth respectively.
Also used in the ranking is female students’ enrolment, which was arrived at by dividing the number of female FTE students by the total fulltime equivalent. The universities ranked top five in this parameter are PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Achievers University, Lead City University, Bayelsa Medical University, Yenagoa and Ondo State University of Medical Sciences.
While using the parameter of full professors, federal universities were top. Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ibadan, the Federal University of Technology Akure and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta occupied the top five positions with a higher percentage after the total number of professors in the universities were divided by the total number of fulltime academic staff.
Among indicators used in the ranking is the number of international staff. The commission said this indicator helped in understanding how well the university is able to attract and retain expatriate staff, adding that it was computed by dividing the number of non-Nigerian teaching staff by the total number of academic staff in the university.
Also, the proportion of students in the university, who are non-Nigerians, was considered with the Nile University of Nigeria, having the highest number of international students.
The ranking showed that 25 universities have 100 per cent accreditation, including Adeleke University, Al-Qalam University and Caleb University. Others are Chrisland University, Crescent University and Federal University, Lokoja
Other parameters used in the ranking are student completion rate, all citations per capita measured of average scholarly citations for the university as indexed in Google Scholar, Per Google Scholar Presence and ranking by Knowledge Economy.
Below is the list of the top universities in Nigeria according to NUC 2021 Ranking:
University of Ibadan – 454.56 points
Redeemer’s University – 384.96 points
Covenant University – 368.11 points
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology – 315.23 points
Federal University of Technology, Akure – 264.14 points
Afe Babalola University – 254.52 points
University of Ilorin – 248.86 points
Babcock University – 227.77 points
Landmark University – 217.06 points
Edo University – 207.15 points
Mountain Top University – 206.47 points
Pan-Atlantic University – 201.77 points
Lagos State University – 199.90 points
Obafemi Awolowo University – 199.25 points
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta – 190.25 points
Federal University Lokoja – 187.88 points
Skyline University, Nigeria – 186.42 points
Chrisland University – 183.39 points
Ondo State University of Medical Sciences – 180.53 points
University of Nigeria, Nsukka – 178.03 points
Ekiti State University – 173.11 points
American University of Nigerian – 171.37 points
Rivers State University – 170.48 points
Elizade University – 160.60 points
Nile University of Nigeria – 157.37 points
Bells University of Technology – 149.65 points
The Technical University – 146.63 points
Rhema University – 142.71 points
Federal University of Technology, Minna – 140.14 points
Bowen University – 139.62 points
King’s University – 131.35 points
Edwin Clark University – 129.97 points
Delta State University – 124.02 points
Godfrey Okoye University – 120.00 points
University of Lagos – 116.64 points
Nnamdi Azikiwe University – 113.65 points
University of Uyo – 112.29 points
Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology – 110.87 points
Kwara State University – 108.22 points
University of Calabar – 107.99 points
University of Benin – 106.01 points
Ebonyi State University – 105.26 points
Hezekiah University – 101.57 points
Osun State University – 99.30 points
Adeleke University – 97.06 points
Bingham University – 95.39 points
Samuel Adegboyega University – 94.52 points
University of Port-Harcourt – 90.27 points
Lead City University – 87.11 points
Crawford University – 86.76 points
National Open University of Nigeria – 86.41 points
Baze University – 85.59 points
Arthur Jarvis University – 84.11 points
Spiritan University – 83.84 points
University of Abuja – 80.88 points
Michael & Cecilia Ibru University – 80.66 points
Kola Daisi University – 78.79 points
Federal University Wukari – 78.72 points
Admiralty University – 71.47 points
Caleb University – 71.08 points
Dominion University – 69.90 points
Federal University, Dutse – 68.13 points
Federal University, Oye-Ekiti – 68.01 points
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University – 61.44 points
Bayelsa Medical University Yenagoa – 61.12 points
PAMO University of Medical Sciences – 60.12 points
Bayero University – 57.99 points
Mcpherson University – 57.02 points
Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto – 56.93 points
Maitama Sule University – 56.90 points
Tai Solarin University of Education – 55.71 points
Federal University, Otuoke – 53.33 points
Ahmadu Bello University – 52.63 points
Abia State University – 52.34 points
Clifford University – 49.14 points
Adamawa State University – 48.12 points
Cross River University of Technology – 46.98 points
Federal University of Technology, Owerri – 44.28 points
University of Jos – 44.01 points
Augustine University – 43.12 points
Benue State University – 41.86 points
Nigerian Defense Academy – 39.75 points
University of Maiduguri – 38.76 points
Benson Idahosa University – 38.67 points
Oduduwa University – 36.87 points
University of Agriculture, Makurdi – 36.34 points
Adekunle Ajasin University – 35.90 points
Kebbi State University of Science and Technology – 34.12 points
Federal University Lafia – 33.28 points
Summit University – 33.03 points
Niger-Delta University – 32.91 points
Ibrahim Babangida University – 32.67 points
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture – 32.18 points
Nigerian Army University, Biu – 31.95 points
Kogi State University – 30.32 points
Air Force Institute of Technology – 28.90 points
Nasarawa State University – 28.33 points
Kaduna State University – 28.00 points
Gombe State University – 26.04 points
Imo State University – 25.97 points
Kano University of Science & Technology – 25.67 points
Bauchi State University – 25.54 points
Dominican University – 21.79 points
Enugu State University of Science & Tech – 21.00 points
Achievers University – 18.91 points
Hallmark University – 17.61 points
Federal University, Kashere – 17.22 points
Crescent University – 14.16 points
Al-Qalam University – 13.62 points
Legacy University – 12.11 points
Renaissance University – 8.92 points
Igbinedion University – 4.05 points
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University – 0.59 points
