The Federal Government has expanded Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking framework to cover universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, with participation made compulsory for all institutions.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the development on Tuesday at a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee in Abuja.
A statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah, said the expanded framework was part of President Bola Tinubu’s education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda, implemented through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative.
Alausa said the initiative was designed to strengthen quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
He said, “The ranking will provide institutions with clear benchmarks for assessing their performance, identifying areas requiring improvement and measuring progress, while promoting healthy competition and continuous institutional advancement.”
According to the minister, the 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities will commence in September, while the committee will determine the appropriate timeline for extending the exercise to polytechnics and colleges of education.
He said the Federal Government would fund the exercise through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
Alausa added that TETFund would develop guidelines to institutionalise the ranking system and formally communicate to vice-chancellors and heads of other tertiary institutions that participation is compulsory.
The minister also assured the committee that the ministry would provide the policy direction, funding and capacity-building support required to make the ranking exercise credible, sustainable and impactful.
He said the ministry would work with the committee to facilitate in-service training and institutional capacity-building programmes across tertiary institutions, with the aim of enabling more Nigerian institutions to gain greater global recognition in subsequent international ranking exercises.
Alausa reiterated the Federal Ministry of Education’s commitment to making the ranking framework a credible tool for driving quality, accountability and continuous improvement in the tertiary education sector.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, described the initiative as a significant step towards strengthening accountability and quality across the sector.
Ahmad said healthy competition would encourage institutions to assess their performance, address identified gaps and continuously improve the quality of education they provide.
She said, “Ranking should cover both public and private institutions, as this will provide a mechanism for establishing and maintaining minimum standards across the sector.”
She assured the committee of the ministry’s full support, saying the exercise would help institutions understand their strengths and weaknesses and drive measurable improvements as the country’s tertiary education system continues to expand.
Also speaking, the Chairman of NURAC, Emeritus Professor Peter Okebukola, congratulated President Tinubu on the increasing number of Nigerian universities gaining global recognition.
Okebukola, a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, called for greater investment in university education to accelerate the progress.
He said the committee’s mandate had now been expanded to cover polytechnics and colleges of education, leading to its transformation into the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee.
“The committee’s mandate has now been expanded to cover polytechnics and colleges of education, leading to its transformation into the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee,” he said.
Okebukola expressed optimism that sustained investment, stronger institutional capacity and the new national ranking framework would enable more Nigerian tertiary institutions to make significant progress in international rankings.
He added that the initiative would enable Nigerian tertiary institutions to compete more confidently with leading institutions globally.
