The Federal Government has made participation in Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as part of efforts to improve quality, accountability and institutional performance.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced the policy on Monday in Abuja during a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), which has now been expanded and renamed the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee.
Alausa said the unified ranking framework would give tertiary institutions clear benchmarks for assessing their performance, identifying weaknesses and tracking improvements.
According to him, the 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities is scheduled to begin in September, while the advisory committee will determine when polytechnics and colleges of education will be incorporated into the exercise.
The minister said the government would develop guidelines to institutionalise the ranking exercise and formally communicate the compulsory participation policy to vice-chancellors and heads of other tertiary institutions.
He also said funding support for the exercise was expected through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The inclusion of polytechnics and colleges of education means the ranking framework will no longer be limited to universities, bringing the three major categories of tertiary institutions under a common national assessment structure.
Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, said the initiative would strengthen accountability and quality across the country’s tertiary education system.
She said both public and private institutions should be covered, adding that competition among institutions could encourage them to identify their strengths and weaknesses and work on areas requiring improvement.
Ahmad said institutions would be encouraged to address identified gaps and consistently improve the quality of education they provide.
Chairman of the advisory committee, Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, said the committee’s engagement with the minister followed its call for increased investment in university education to sustain the growing global recognition of Nigerian institutions.
Okebukola welcomed the expansion of the committee’s mandate, saying sustained investment, improved institutional capacity and a unified national ranking framework could help more Nigerian tertiary institutions compete with leading institutions globally.
The Federal Ministry of Education said the policy is intended to strengthen quality, accountability and competitiveness across the tertiary education sector, with further details on the framework and timelines expected as the government develops the guidelines for implementation.
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