The University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State, has been ranked Nigeria’s best university in the 2026 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
The latest ranking, released on Thursday, placed UI between 801 and 1,000 globally, ahead of all other Nigerian institutions. The federal university reclaimed the top spot, which it last held in 2023, after moving up from fourth position in the previous year’s ranking.
According to THE, 2,191 institutions from 115 countries were evaluated using 18 performance indicators across five key areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry engagement, and international outlook.
Following UI on the Nigerian list are the University of Lagos, Bayero University, Kano, and Covenant University, which ranked second, third, and fourth, respectively. UNILAG also achieved the highest score for research quality among Nigerian universities, while Bayero University recorded the strongest international outlook.
Covenant University maintained its strong reputation for industry collaboration, topping the national chart in that category. Other universities featured in the rankings include Landmark University, Ahmadu Bello University, the Federal University of Technology, Minna, and the University of Ilorin.
Out of 51 Nigerian universities that participated, only UI and UNILAG were placed within the top 1,000 globally, highlighting their improved performance in research and teaching standards.
The global 2026 rankings analysed more than 18 million research publications and 174 million citations, alongside survey responses from over 108,000 scholars worldwide.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is widely regarded as one of the most credible assessments of academic performance and research quality in global higher education.
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