The Federal Government has made participation in Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced this on September 1, 2026, in Abuja at a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee. The committee has subsequently been expanded and renamed the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee to reflect its broader mandate.
According to a statement by Ikharo Attah, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister, the unified ranking framework is intended to improve quality, accountability and performance while strengthening the international competitiveness of Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Alausa said the exercise would give institutions clear benchmarks for assessing their performance, identifying areas requiring improvement and tracking progress, while encouraging healthy competition across the sector.
The 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities is scheduled to begin in September. The expanded committee will determine when polytechnics and colleges of education will be incorporated into the exercise. The Federal Government is expected to fund the initiative through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The Ministry of Education will develop the necessary guidelines and formally notify heads of tertiary institutions that participation is mandatory. It will also work with the committee to provide training and capacity-building support to ensure the ranking system is credible, sustainable and effective.
The initiative is part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda, being implemented through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative.
The ranking will cover both public and private institutions. The broader objective is to establish and maintain minimum standards across the tertiary education system in Nigeria.
Chairman of the advisory committee and former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Emeritus Professor Peter Okebukola, said the meeting followed the committee’s memorandum congratulating the Tinubu administration on the growing number of Nigerian universities receiving international recognition.
He called for increased investment in university education to sustain the progress, noting that the Minister had gone beyond the committee’s original proposal by expanding the former Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee’s mandate to include polytechnics and colleges of education.
