Only two Nigerian universities made it to the top of 1,000 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024, a drop from three Nigerian universities last year.
According to this year’s rankings released on Wednesday, Covenant University in Ogun State and the University of Ibadan in Oyo State are the only Nigerian universities in the top 1,000.
Both universities were ranked between 800 and 1000. They were closely followed by the Federal University of Technology, Akure and the University of Lagos at 1001 – 1200.
Other Nigerian universities ranked between 1201 and 1501 are; Bayero University, Kano; University of Ilorin, Kwara State; and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.
This year, THE World University Rankings reviewed submissions from 2,673 institutions, but only 1,904 universities in 108 countries and regions made the ranking.
The remaining 769 institutions were simply classified as “informant” for not meeting the classification criteria.
Thirty-nine Nigerian universities submitted data. However, only 15 appeared in the rankings. The remaining 24 had the status of “reporter.”
There are currently 264 universities in Nigeria. Those owned by the federal government are 51, state governments own 66 and private individuals/organizations own 147.
downward trajectory
In the 2023 rankings, the University of Ibadan (UI), University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Covenant University were listed in the top 1,000.
UI and UNILAG ranked between 401 and 500, while Covenant University ranked between 601 and 800. The number of Nigerian universities in the top 1,500 also fell from nine last year to seven this year.
World ranking
On a global scale, the University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK), maintained the first position it has held for almost a decade. Following in second place is Stanford University, United States (US), which moved up from fourth place last year. In third place is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States, which moved from fifth place in the previous ranking.
Meanwhile, Harvard University, USA, fell from second place in 2023 to fourth place this year. The University of Cambridge also fell from third place last year to fifth this year.
Methodology
For the 20th edition of the World University Rankings this year, THE said it updated its methodology to reflect results from the diverse range of research-intensive universities around the world.
The university ranking body said it used five performance indicators, each broken down to give a total of 18 indicators.
The five performance indicators include Teaching (the learning environment) 29.5 percent; Research environment (volume, revenue and reputation) 29 percent; Research quality (citation impact, research strength, research excellence, and research influence) 30 percent; International perspective (staff, students and research) 7.5 percent; and Industry (income and patents) 4 percent.
“We have moved from 13 to 18 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments,” he said. he said in a post.
“One of the metrics (study abroad) currently has zero weight, but will be counted in the future…Zero weight is a temporary provision due to the impact of COVID-19 on international travel.”
Data collection method
THE said the ranked institutions provide the data used for the rankings.
In cases where data provided by universities did not meet the agency’s criteria, the agency simply did not classify them and instead listed them at the bottom of the classification with the status of “informants.”
It said: “Institutions provide and approve their institutional data for use in rankings.
THE added; “On the rare occasion that a particular data point is not provided at the topic level, we use an estimate calculated from the overall data point and any data points available at the topic level. If a metric score cannot be calculated due to missing data points, it is imputed using a conservative estimate.
“By doing this, we avoid penalizing an institution too harshly with a “zero” value for data it overlooks or fails to provide, but we do not reward it for retaining it.
“Universities at the bottom of the table listed with “reporter” status provided data but did not meet our eligibility criteria to receive a ranking.”
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter for Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which pairs local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the world.
