Persistent crises in Nigeria’s institutions of higher learning may have affected the country’s position in the recent rankings of Africa’s top universities.

An online rating of Africa’s top 50 universities on 2015 University Web Rankings Africa, shows the highest ranking Nigerian university to be University of Lagos in 20th place.

Others are the Obafemi Awolowo University of Ile-Ife in 23rd position, University of Ibadan in 38th, University of Ilorin 41st and Covenant University in 43rd place.

The list is dominated by universities from South Africa and Egypt.

The South Africans led the list with the top five universities while Egypt followed from 6th to ninth.

University of Dar es Salaam Tanzania in tenth breaks the sequence while South Africa and Egypt’s dominance continues from 11 to 15th.

Morocco’s Universite Mohammed V – Agdal is 16th while West African neighbours Burkina Faso and Kenya also place higher than Nigeria in 18th and 19th place respectively.

Nigeria’s universities calendar has often been disrupted by frequent industrial actions.

Major stakeholders also accuse government of starving the institutions of funds resulting in the declining.

Below is the list of top 100 universities in Africa (2015).

1 University of Cape: Town South Africa

2 University of Pretoria: South Africa

3 Universiteit Stellenbosch: South Africa

4 University of the Witwatersrand: South Africa

5 University of South Africa: South Africa

6 The American University in Cairo: Egypt

7 Cairo University: Egypt

8 Mansoura University: Egypt

9 Alexandria University: Egypt

10 University of Dar es Salaam: Tanzania

11 University of KwaZulu-Natal: South Africa

12 Rhodes University: South Africa

13 Ain Shams University: Egypt

14 Assiut University: Egypt

15 University of the Western Cape: South Africa

16 Université Mohammed V – Agdal: Morocco

17 University of Johannesburg: South Africa

18 Université de Ouagadougou: Burkina Faso

19 University of Nairobi: Kenya

20 University of Lagos: Nigeria

21 Makerere University: Uganda

22 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University: South Africa

23 Obafemi Awolowo University: Nigeria

24 University of Ghana: Ghana

25 Universidade Eduardo Mondlane: Mozambique

26 Misurata University: Libya

27 The German University in Cairo: Egypt

28 North-West University: South Africa

29 Benha University: Egypt

30 Zagazig University: Egypt

31 Université de la Reunion: Reunion

32 University of Botswana: Botswana

33 Al Akhawayn University: Morocco

34 University of Namibia: Namibia

35 Université Abou Bekr Belkaid Tlemcen: Algeria

36 Université Cheikh Anta Diop: Senegal

37 University of Khartoum: Sudan

38 University of Ibadan: Nigeria

39 Helwan University: Egypt

40 Sudan University of Science and Technology: Sudan

41 University of Ilorin: Nigeria

42 Université Mentouri de Constantine: Algeria

43 Covenant University: Nigeria

44 Université Mouloud Maameri de Tizi Ouzou: Algeria

45 University of Swaziland: Swaziland

46 Université de Batna: Algeria

47 Université d’Alger: Algeria

48 University of Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe

49 Université Mohammed V – Souissi: Morocco

50 South Valley University: Egypt

51 Tanta University: Egypt

52 Moi University: Kenya

53 Université Kasdi Merbah de Ouargla: Algeria

54 Université Abdelmalek Essadi: Morocco

55 Minoufiya University: Egypt

56 Université Cadi Ayyad: Morocco

57 Federal University of Technology, Minna: Nigeria

58 Minia University: Egypt

59 University of Zambia: Zambia

60 Université d’Oran: Algeria

61 Addis Ababa University: Ethiopia

62 Université Djillali Liabes: Algeria

63 Université Abdelhamid Ibn Badis Mostaganem: Algeria

64 Al-Azhar University: Egypt

65 Kenyatta University: Kenya

66 Université Hassan II – Casablanca: Morocco

67 Suez Canal University: Egypt

68 Kafr el-Sheikh University: Egypt

69 Universiteit van die Vrystaat: South Africa

70 Cape Peninsula University of Technology: South Africa

*Photo shows National Universities Commission

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