FG Makes Tertiary Institution Ranking Compulsory for Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education
Reported By Facthabournews
The Federal Government has made participation in Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.
The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, announced the development on Tuesday in Abuja during a meeting with members of the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC).
Following the expansion of the ranking exercise beyond universities, the committee has been renamed the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee, reflecting its broader responsibility for the assessment of institutions across Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.
The Federal Government said the new ranking framework is aimed at improving the quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
According to Alausa, the ranking exercise will provide institutions with measurable benchmarks that can help them assess their performance, identify areas that require improvement and track their progress over time.
The minister said the initiative would also encourage healthy competition among tertiary institutions and promote continuous improvement in the quality of education delivered to students.
The national ranking exercise was previously focused primarily on universities. However, the Federal Government has now expanded the framework to include polytechnics and colleges of education, bringing the three major categories of tertiary institutions under a broader national ranking system.
Alausa said the decision was part of the Federal Government’s ongoing education reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, being implemented through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI).
The minister explained that the government wants the ranking system to become a credible and sustainable mechanism for measuring institutional performance.
He said the exercise would allow tertiary institutions to better understand their strengths and weaknesses and provide a basis for developing strategies to improve their performance.
The Federal Ministry of Education is also expected to provide policy direction and capacity-building support to institutions participating in the exercise.
One of the major changes announced by the Federal Government is that participation in the national tertiary institution ranking exercise will no longer be optional.
Alausa said vice-chancellors and heads of polytechnics and colleges of education would be formally informed that participation in the ranking exercise is compulsory.
This means that institutions across the country will be expected to participate in the process and provide the relevant information required for their assessment.
The government said guidelines would also be developed to institutionalise the ranking exercise and make it a regular component of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
The policy is expected to cover both public and private tertiary institutions, ensuring that institutions are assessed within a common national framework.
The Minister of Education disclosed that the 2026/2027 ranking exercise for Nigerian universities will commence in September 2026.
However, the exact timeline for extending the exercise to polytechnics and colleges of education will be determined by the newly expanded Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee.
The government has not yet announced the complete criteria and scoring system that will be used for the expanded ranking exercise.
The committee is expected to develop or refine the framework that will guide the assessment of institutions across the different categories of tertiary education.
The Federal Government also announced that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) will provide funding for the national ranking exercise.
According to the Minister of Education, the government intends to provide the necessary funding and institutional support to ensure that the ranking system is credible, sustainable and effective.
The ministry is also expected to work with the committee on capacity-building programmes, including training that could help tertiary institutions understand the ranking requirements and improve their institutional performance.
Alausa expressed confidence that stronger institutional capacity, improved investment and the new national ranking framework could help more Nigerian tertiary institutions gain greater recognition internationally.
The ranking of tertiary institutions has become increasingly important as universities and other higher education institutions compete for students, research funding, academic partnerships and international recognition.
A well-designed national ranking system can provide students, parents, researchers and policymakers with additional information about institutional performance.
For tertiary institutions, ranking can also highlight areas that require improvement, including academic programmes, research, infrastructure, staffing, innovation and other aspects of institutional development.
The Federal Government believes that the new framework can encourage institutions to regularly evaluate their performance rather than relying solely on their historical reputation.
The initiative could also provide policymakers with data that can be used to identify weaknesses within the tertiary education system and determine where additional support or intervention may be required.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, described the expansion as an important step towards strengthening accountability and quality across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
She stressed the importance of including both public and private institutions in the exercise.
According to her, healthy competition can encourage institutions to assess their performance, identify gaps and continuously improve the quality of education they provide.
She added that a comprehensive ranking system could assist in establishing and maintaining minimum standards across the tertiary education sector.
The minister assured the ranking committee of the ministry’s support for the initiative.
The Chairman of the ranking advisory committee, Emeritus Professor Peter Okebukola, also welcomed the government’s decision to expand the ranking exercise.
Okebukola, a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), had led the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee before its mandate was expanded.
He said the committee had congratulated the Federal Government over the increasing global recognition of Nigerian universities and called for greater investment in university education.
According to him, the government’s decision went beyond the committee’s initial proposal by extending the ranking mandate to polytechnics and colleges of education.
The former NUC executive secretary expressed optimism that sustained investment, stronger institutional capacity and the new national ranking framework would help more Nigerian institutions improve their positions in international rankings.
He said the framework could also help Nigerian institutions compete more effectively with leading institutions globally.
The compulsory nature of the exercise represents a significant change in how the Federal Government intends to measure institutional performance across the country’s tertiary education sector.
Universities, polytechnics and colleges of education will be expected to engage with the national ranking framework and work towards meeting established performance benchmarks.
For institutions, this could increase the importance of maintaining accurate institutional records and strengthening areas that may be assessed under the ranking framework.
It may also encourage tertiary institutions to pay greater attention to academic quality, research activities, infrastructure, institutional governance and other measurable indicators of performance.
However, the effectiveness of the policy will depend largely on the transparency of the ranking criteria, the reliability of institutional data, adequate funding and the ability of the government and ranking committee to apply the framework consistently.
The Federal Government has linked the ranking initiative to its broader objective of improving the international competitiveness of Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Alausa said the ministry expects the framework, combined with investment and capacity-building, to help significantly more Nigerian institutions achieve greater recognition in future international ranking exercises.
Nigeria has a large and diverse tertiary education system, with universities, polytechnics and colleges of education operating across the country.
The expansion of the national ranking framework therefore represents an attempt to create a more coordinated approach to measuring performance across the sector.
If implemented transparently and consistently, the exercise could provide useful information for students, parents, academics, researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders.
For institutions, the ranking may also serve as an incentive to identify weaknesses and develop measurable plans for improvement.
The Federal Government has officially expanded Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking framework beyond universities to include polytechnics and colleges of education, with participation now compulsory for tertiary institutions.
The 2026/2027 university ranking exercise is scheduled to begin in September 2026, while the timeline for polytechnics and colleges of education will be determined by the newly renamed Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee.
With funding expected from TETFund and additional guidelines and capacity-building programmes planned by the Federal Ministry of Education, the government hopes the initiative will strengthen accountability, improve institutional performance and increase the global competitiveness of Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The success of the policy will ultimately depend on how transparently the ranking criteria are developed and applied, the quality of data supplied by institutions, adequate funding and the willingness of tertiary institutions to use the results as a basis for continuous improvement.
