The Federal Government has set December 15, 2026, as the deadline for completing the national ranking of Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

The exercise, being coordinated by the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee (NiTERAC) under the Federal Ministry of Education, is designed to establish a common framework for assessing institutional performance and identifying areas requiring improvement.

Chairman of NiTERAC, Prof. Peter Okebukola, disclosed this in a presentation on Nigeria’s performance in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings dated September 30, 2026.

Okebukola said the ranking exercise was initiated following a directive from the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, and would cover the country’s three major categories of tertiary institutions.

He said universities would be assessed using 22 indicators, with the weighting of the indicators agreed upon with the League of Directors of Academic Planning.

According to him, the national ranking is intended to encourage healthy competition among tertiary institutions and contribute to improving the global standing of Nigeria’s higher education system.

The exercise expands the government’s institutional assessment beyond universities to include polytechnics and colleges of education.

The initiative comes as Nigeria records increased representation in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

According to Okebukola’s presentation, 29 Nigerian universities were included in the ranked category, up from 24 in the previous edition, making Nigeria the most represented country in sub-Saharan Africa.

The University of Ibadan, University of Lagos and Covenant University were placed within the global 801–1,000 band, while four other Nigerian universities appeared in the 1,001–1,200 category.

Another 32 Nigerian universities were listed in the Reporter category, bringing the total number of institutions that submitted data or participated in the ranking process to 61.

Reporter status applies to institutions that have submitted data but do not meet one or more requirements for inclusion in the ranked tables.

The presentation noted that only 29 of the 328 universities listed by the National Universities Commission featured in the ranked category.

It identified research funding, publication output, institutional data management and international collaboration among areas requiring further attention.

Differences were also noted among institutions in teaching quality, research performance, industry engagement and international outlook.

The proposed national ranking is expected to provide tertiary institutions with a domestic benchmark for assessing their performance, identifying weaknesses and developing improvement plans.

The three subsector rankings are expected to be completed before December 15, 2026, following data collection, validation and finalisation of the assessment framework.