Of the over 100 universities in Nigeria, only one has been found worthy of being ranked among the best 1,000 in the world.

In the World University Rankings 2018-2019 released on Monday, May 28, by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, occupies the 991st position.

Three other African countries also feature in the rankings, namely, South Africa, Uganda and Tunisia. While Uganda’s Makerere University is ranked 771 and Tunisia’s Tunis El Manar University 908, South Africa boasts seven top-ranked universities: University of Cape Town (223); University of the Witwatersrand (230); University of KwaZulu-Natal (402); University of Pretoria (438); Stellenbosch University (448); University of Johannesburg (790); and North-West University (964).

For the seventh year in a row Harvard is been ranked as the top global university. This year, the global top-10 is as follows (with last year’s rankings in parentheses):

1. Harvard University (1)

2. Stanford University (2)

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3)

4. University of Cambridge (4)

5. University of Oxford (5)

6. University of California, Berkeley (7)

7. Princeton University (9)

8. Columbia University (6)

9. California Institute of Technology (11)

10. University of Chicago (8)

The US leads with 213 universities in the top 1,000, followed by China (108), the United Kingdom (62), France (58), and Japan (56). Germany (54), Italy (45), Spain (38), South Korea (35), and Canada (28) round up the top 10 countries. In total, 61 countries have representatives in the top 1,000.

A statement issued on Monday by the Center for World University Rankings said: “CWUR’s rankings grade universities on seven factors without relying on surveys and university data submissions: quality of teaching, alumni employment, quality of faculty, research output, quality publications, influence, and citations. The methodology has been enhanced this year, with research now accounting for 70% of the total score.

“The US has eight representatives in the top-10, which has been the case since the rankings started in 2012, and 213 out of the top 1,000. The number of Chinese universities in the top 1,000 in 108 institutions this year, up from 97 in 2017 and 90 in 2016. Seven out of the nine institutions of the C9 League saw improvements this year.”

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