The Chairman of the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee and former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, has commended the inclusion of two Nigerian universities in the top 1,000 of the 2026 World University Rankings by Times Higher Education (THE).
In a statement released in Abuja on Thursday, the 9th of October, 2025, Okebukola identified the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos as the two top-ranked Nigerian institutions, both scoring within the 35.5–38.9 range.
“This is an improvement over the 2025 league tables where only one Nigerian university, Covenant University, was ranked among the top 1,000 and the best in Nigeria,” he stated.
Okebukola explained that the Times Higher Education World University Rankings are based on 18 well-defined performance indicators that assess teaching, research environment, research quality, industry links, and international outlook. These indicators, he said, ensure fairness and credibility in global university comparisons.
He added that other ranking systems under THE include the Impact Rankings, where Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, has remained a consistent performer, the Sub-Saharan Africa University Rankings, and subject-based rankings.
According to him, “Oxford University led the pack, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, University of Cambridge, Harvard University and Stanford University. Interestingly, Harvard that had maintained a consistent lead in the early years of the ranking, slipped to the fifth position and yielded to Oxford that retains the number one spot for the tenth consecutive year, driven by strong research environment score. Two Nigerian universities were ranked among the top 1,000.”
Okebukola, a former Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Open University of Nigeria, also noted that “among the top 1,200 universities are Bayero University Kano, Covenant University and Landmark University.”
“The three universities band in the same overall score range of 32.1 – 35.4,” he said.
He added that four Nigerian universities were in the 1,200 category in 2025, indicating a slight drop in performance this year.
READ ALSO: NELFUND Disburses ₦6.9m to Aviation University Students In Abuja
Those ranked between the 1,201 and 1,500 range include Ahmadu Bello University, Federal University of Technology Minna, University of Ilorin, University of Jos, and the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Fourteen others fall under the 1500+ category.
The Times Higher Education 2026 report placed the University of Ibadan as Nigeria’s best-performing university, ranked globally between 801 and 1,000. This position, last held in 2023, reflects the university’s strong showing across the assessed categories.
The 2026 ranking covered 2,191 institutions from 115 countries, analysing over 18.7 million research publications and 174.9 million citations, supported by responses from 108,000 scholars worldwide.
UI rose from fourth place in 2025 to become Nigeria’s top university in 2026, overtaking Covenant University, which had led in 2024 and 2025. The University of Lagos followed as second, while Bayero University and Covenant University took third and fourth positions, respectively.
The report also highlighted the research performance of the University of Lagos, which achieved the highest score in research quality with 66.7 points.