Ranking Of Nigerian Universities
Table Contents
Importance Of Universities
Poor State Of Nigerian Universities
Ranking Of Nigerian Universities Among World Universities
Ranking Of Nigerian Universities Among African Universities
Conclusion
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Copyright © 2019 By Leesi Ebenezer Mitee

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Leesi Ebenezer Mitee, ‘Poor Ranking Of Nigerian Universities Among African And World Universities (2019 World University Ranking)’ (Nigerian Legal Research, 15 March 2019) <https://nigerianlawyersdirectory.com/research/the-phrase-as-amended/> accessed [insert the date you last visited this webpage]

Importance Of Universities

Universities are indispensable to the educational, social, economic, political, technological, scientific, and overall progress and development of every country. The Oxford Complete Dictionary defines “university” as “an educational institution designed for instruction, examination, or both, of students in many branches of advanced learning, conferring degrees in various faculties, and often embodying colleges and similar institutions.”

In its publication, Why Invest in Universities? (June 2015), Universities UK (the representative organisation for the universities in the United Kingdom, founded in 1918), catalogued the importance of universities and why there should be adequate investment in universities. They include the following:

  • “Universities transform people’s lives through education and through the wider impact of their research.
  • Universities help students to develop the skills and knowledge employers need.
  • University research . . . [provides] the ideas and inventions on which future prosperity will be founded.
  • University research benefits everyone – creating businesses and jobs, enriching society and stimulating culture.
  • Universities help to ensure that [a country] remains competitive in the global market by supporting greater business innovation and export-led, knowledge-intensive growth.
  • Universities’ international success helps secure [a country’s] share of global growth and influence.
  • Universities are anchor institutions in their regions – they are essential for vibrant local economies and are drivers of innovation and business development.
  • Universities are major contributors to [a country’s] economy. . .”

Poor State Of Nigerian Universities

Unfortunately, Nigeria has not been unable to reap the aforementioned benefits because of the poor state of Nigerian universities. The numerous reasons for this unfortunate situation include the following:

  • Poor investment on the part of Federal and State governments in the development of public Nigerian universities. For instance, Nigerian universities lack modern physical infrastructure, research facilities and equipment, and manpower development opportunities. This is one of the reasons for the (now ritual) and unfortunate annual strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The loss from such strikes are incalculable.
  • Corruption in the Nigerian public university system whereby funds allocated for projects are not judiciously used for their intended objectives.
  • The proliferation of mushroom private universities that are not worthy of the status of universities by any sane imagination.
  • Poor attitude of Nigerian lecturers to teaching and research (academic scholarship), which manifests in academic laziness; publishing articles in sub-standard journals that have virtually no academic value and no international repute; fraudulent co-authorship of articles to “help one another” avoid the “publish or perish” requirement for promotion; proactive sexual harassment and monetary exploitation of students for marks, as well as accepting bribes from students for marks; and the use of “handouts” instead of standard textbooks.

Ranking Of Nigerian Universities Among World Universities

It is therefore no wonder Nigerian universities have, over the years, been performing dismally in the global ranking of world universities. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is adjudged the most reputed system of ranking universities in the world. According to its 2019 ranking, only two Nigerian universities are among the world’s first 1,000 universities:

  • Covenant University (a private university located in Ota in Ogun State, owned by Bishop David Oyedepo, which has been operating with official status since 2002) ranked between 601–800 in the world; and
  • University of Ibadan (a federal government-owned university located in Ibadan, Nigeria’s first university established in 1948 as a College of the University of London, which became a full-fledged independent university in 1962) also ranked between 601–800 in the world.

The University of Nigeria Nsukka (a federal government-owned university located in Nsukka in Enugu State, founded in 1955 and formally opened in 1960) is ranked 1,001+, that is, between 1,001–1,258 among the world’s universities. It therefore means only three Nigerian universities are among the first 1,258 world universities in the 2019 world universities league table. That is poor, indeed.

Ranking Of Nigerian Universities Among African Universities

It is quite embarrassing and disheartening that Nigerian universities also rank poorly even among African Universities. Only the abovementioned Covenant University, University of Ibadan, and University of Nigeria Nsukka are among Africa’s ranked 47 universities. South Africa’s universities are always the best ranked universities in Africa.

S/No. Africa Rank 2019 World University

Rank 2019

 University Country City
1 1 =156 University of Cape Town South Africa Cape Town
2 2  201–250 University of the Witwatersrand South Africa Johannesburg
3 3  301–350 Stellenbosch University South Africa Stellenbosch
4 4  401–500 University of KwaZulu-Natal South Africa Durban
5 5  501–600 Makerere University Uganda Kampala
6 =6  601–800 American University in Cairo Egypt Cairo
7 =6  601–800 Benha University Egypt Banha
8 =6  601–800 Beni-Suef University Egypt Beni Suef
9 =6  601–800 Covenant University Nigeria Ota
10 =6  601–800 University of Ibadan Nigeria Ibadan
11 =6  601–800 University of Johannesburg South Africa Johannesburg
12 =6  601–800 Kafrelsheikh University Egypt Kafr el-Sheikh
13 =6  601–800 Mansoura University Egypt Dakahlia
14 =6  601–800 University of Pretoria South Africa Pretoria
15 =6  601–800 Suez Canal University Egypt Ismailia
16 =6  601–800 University of the Western Cape South Africa Cape Town
17 =17  801–1000 Alexandria University Egypt Alexandria
18 =17  801–1000 University of Béjaïa Algeria Béjaïa
19 =17  801–1000 Cairo University Egypt Cairo
20 =17  801–1000 Fayoum University Egypt Fauyoum
21 =17  801–1000 Ferhat Abbas Sétif University 1 Algeria Setif
22 =17  801–1000 University of Ghana Ghana Accra
23 =17  801–1000 University of Marrakech Cadi Ayyad Morocco Marrakech
24 =17  801–1000 Mohammed V University of Rabat Morocco Rabat
25 =17  801–1000 University of Sfax Tunisia Sfax
26 =17  801–1000 Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University Morocco Fez
27 =17  801–1000 Sohag University Egypt Sohag
28 =17  801–1000 Tanta University Egypt Tanta
29 =17  801–1000 Tshwane University of Technology South Africa Pretoria
30 =30  1001+ Ain Shams University Egypt Cairo
31 =30  1001+ Al-Azhar University Egypt Cairo
32 =30  1001+ Assiut University Egypt Assiut
33 =30  1001+ Badji Mokhtar University – Annaba Algeria Annaba
34 =30  1001+ University of Constantine 1 Algeria Constantine
35 =30  1001+ Helwan University Egypt Ain Helwan
36 =30  1001+ Menoufia University Egypt Menoufia
37 =30  1001+ Minia University Egypt Minya
38 =30  1001+ University of Monastir Tunisia Monastir
39 =30  1001+ University of Nairobi Kenya Nairobi
40 =30  1001+ University of Nigeria Nsukka Nigeria Nsukka
41 =30  1001+ University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene Algeria Bab-Ezzouar
42 =30  1001+ University of South Africa South Africa Pretoria
43 =30  1001+ South Valley University Egypt Qena
44 =30  1001+ University of Tlemcen Algeria Tlemcen
45 =30  1001+ University of Tunis El Manar Tunisia Tunis
46 =30  1001+ Université Hassan II de Casablanca Morocco Casablanca
47 =30  1001+ Zagazig University Egypt Zagazig

Source: Best Universities in Africa 2019

Conclusion

The dismal ranking of Nigerian universities among African and world universities is disgraceful and totally unacceptable. Nigerian Federal and State governments should begin, as a matter of urgent high priority, to invest adequately in their universities in the country. The private sector should also do the same. It is interesting to note that the best-ranked university in Nigeria is a private university—Covenant University.

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