Federal Government is introducing national benchmarks for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education under the 2026 ranking exercise.

Federal Government begins the 2026 national ranking of Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education using 22 indicators for universities.

The Federal Government has set December 15, 2026, as the deadline for completing a new national ranking of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as part of efforts to establish a common benchmark for assessing the performance of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

The exercise is being coordinated by the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee (NiTERAC) under the Federal Ministry of Education and will assess universities against 22 indicators, according to the committee’s chairman, Prof. Peter Okebukola.

Okebukola disclosed this in a September 30, 2026 presentation on Nigeria’s performance in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, made available to The PUNCH.

He said the exercise was initiated following a directive from the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, and would cover the country’s three major tertiary education subsectors.

“As directed by the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee has started the process of the 2026 ranking of Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education,” Okebukola said.

He said the national ranking was intended to promote “healthy internal competition” among tertiary institutions and help position Nigeria’s higher education system for stronger performance in global rankings.

“The university ranking will use 22 indicators, with weightings agreed with the League of Directors of Academic Planning, and the three sub-sector rankings are scheduled for completion before 15 December 2026,” he said.

The ranking will extend the government’s assessment framework beyond universities to polytechnics and colleges of education, creating separate benchmarks for the three categories of institutions.

The planned exercise comes as Nigeria’s representation in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings increased to 29 ranked universities, up from 24 in the previous edition, according to Okebukola’s presentation.

The University of Ibadan, University of Lagos and Covenant University were placed in the 801–1,000 global band, while four other Nigerian universities appeared in the 1,001–1,200 category.

Another 32 Nigerian universities were listed in the Reporter category, bringing the number of institutions that submitted data or otherwise engaged with the ranking process to 61.

Reporter status means an institution submitted data but did not meet one or more requirements for inclusion in the ranked tables.

Despite the increased representation, the presentation noted that only 29 of the 328 universities listed by the National Universities Commission appeared in the ranked category of the Times Higher Education exercise.

Okebukola identified research funding, publication output, institutional data management and international collaboration among the areas requiring sustained improvement, while also pointing to variations across institutions in teaching, research quality, industry engagement and international outlook.

The Federal Government’s domestic ranking is expected to provide institutions with a national benchmark for identifying performance gaps and measuring progress across the different areas of tertiary education.

The process will involve data collection, validation and finalisation of the assessment framework ahead of the December 15 deadline.