The Federal Government has commenced moves to establish an independent tertiary education ranking system aimed at driving accountability, improving quality assurance and increasing the international visibility of Nigerian institutions.
The initiative followed the first meeting between the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), where plans were discussed to develop a transparent and data-driven ranking framework for tertiary institutions.
Under the expanded mandate, NURAC will not only rank universities but also polytechnics and colleges of education, in recognition of the important role played by different forms of tertiary education in national development.
The initiative is expected to promote healthy, merit-based competition among institutions and provide clear performance benchmarks that will encourage continuous improvement.
Speaking on the development, the Minister of Education said the ranking system would help strengthen accountability and ensure that Nigerian tertiary institutions meet higher standards of performance.
“This independent ranking system will drive accountability, quality assurance, and international visibility for our institutions, while fostering healthy, merit-based competition across the tertiary education system,” he said.
According to the minister, the expansion of NURAC’s mandate reflects the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring that excellence and quality assurance are pursued across the entire tertiary education landscape.
“In recognition of the role all forms of tertiary education play in national development, we have expanded NURAC’s mandate to cover not just universities but polytechnics and colleges of education as well,” he said.
He explained that the ranking framework would provide institutions with clear and measurable standards against which their performance could be assessed.
“Through transparent, data-informed ranking frameworks, our institutions will now have clear performance benchmarks to work with,” he said.
The minister said the framework would encourage institutions to continuously improve their performance while rewarding excellence in critical areas of tertiary education.
“This will encourage continuous improvement and reward excellence in teaching, research, community impact, and graduate outcomes,” he added.
He said the initiative aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), both of which seek to reposition Nigeria’s education sector to compete effectively on the global stage.
“The initiative aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and our NESRI reforms, both working to reposition Nigeria’s education sector as globally competitive, quality-driven, and innovation-oriented,” he said.
The minister stressed that the ranking exercise was not intended merely to create a list of institutions but to drive meaningful improvements in the quality and relevance of tertiary education.
He said Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education must increasingly demonstrate their contributions to society, the economy and national development.
“Our tertiary institutions are critical engines of national development, and they must do more than produce graduates,” he said.
According to him, institutions must become centres for knowledge generation, innovation and economic value creation, rather than focusing primarily on the issuance of academic certificates.
“They need to generate knowledge, foster innovation, and create real value for the economy, shifting the focus from certificate-driven education to value creation,” he said.
The government said the ranking system would also encourage institutions to pay greater attention to the quality of teaching and learning, research output, their impact on surrounding communities and the employability and performance of their graduates.
The expanded framework is expected to enable students, parents, employers and other stakeholders to have access to more reliable information on the performance of tertiary institutions.
It will also provide institutions with an opportunity to identify areas of weakness, benchmark themselves against their peers and develop strategies for improvement.
The Federal Government said the inclusion of polytechnics and colleges of education would ensure that the ranking initiative reflects the diversity of Nigeria’s tertiary education system and avoids placing undue emphasis on universities alone.
The initiative is expected to strengthen competition based on merit and encourage institutions to focus on measurable outcomes that contribute to national development.
With the introduction of NURAC’s expanded mandate, the government is seeking to establish a stronger culture of performance, accountability and innovation across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.