The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has expanded Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking framework to cover universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

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‎This is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, Mr Ikharo Attah.

‎Attah quoted Alausa to have announced the development at a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), adding that participation was now compulsory for all tertiary institutions.

‎Alausa said the expanded ranking framework was part of President Bola Tinubu’s education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda, implemented through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI).

‎According to him, the initiative is aimed at strengthening quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

‎“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,” he said.

‎Alausa said that the 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities would commence in September, while the committee would determine the appropriate timeline for extending the exercise to polytechnics and colleges of education.

‎He added that the Federal Government would provide funding for the exercise through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The minister stated that TETFund would develop guidelines to institutionalise the ranking and formally communicate to vice-chancellors and heads of other tertiary institutions that participation was compulsory.

‎He reassured the committee of the ministry’s commitment to providing the policy direction, funding and capacity-building support required to make the ranking credible, sustainable and impactful.

‎“The ministry will work with the committee to facilitate in-service training and institutional capacity-building programmes across tertiary institutions, with the expectation that significantly more Nigerian institutions will achieve greater global recognition in subsequent international ranking exercises,” Alausa said.

‎Alausa reiterated the commitment of the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure that the ranking framework became a credible tool for driving quality, accountability and continuous improvement in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.

‎On her part, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, described the initiative as a significant step towards strengthening accountability and quality across the tertiary education system.

‎Ahmad said healthy competition was essential to encourage institutions to assess their performance, address identified gaps and consistently improve the quality of education they provide.

‎“Ranking should cover both public and private institutions, as this will provide a mechanism for establishing and maintaining minimum standards across the sector,” she said.

‎Ahmad 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 nation’s tertiary education system continued to expand.

‎Also, the Chairman of NURAC, Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, congratulated President Tinubu on the increasing number of Nigerian universities gaining global recognition.

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‎Okebukola, also the former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), called for greater investment in university education to accelerate the progress.

‎“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 institutions to make significant progress in international rankings.

‎He said the initiative would also enable Nigerian tertiary institutions to compete more confidently with leading institutions globally. ‎(NAN)