FG Makes Tertiary Institutions’ Ranking Compulsory, Expands Exercise to Polytechnics, Colleges of Education

The Federal Government has made participation in the national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced this 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 was part of government’s efforts to strengthen quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness across Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.

He explained that the ranking exercise would provide institutions with clear benchmarks for assessing their performance, identifying areas requiring improvement and measuring progress over time.

The minister disclosed that the 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities would commence in September, while the newly constituted committee would determine the timeline for extending the exercise to polytechnics and colleges of education.

According to him, 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 added that funding support for the exercise was expected through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, described the initiative as a significant step towards strengthening accountability and quality assurance in Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

Ahmad stressed the need for the ranking exercise to cover both public and private institutions, saying healthy competition would encourage institutions to identify their strengths and weaknesses, address existing gaps and continuously improve the quality of education they provide.

Also speaking, Chairman of the advisory committee, Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, said the committee’s engagement with the minister followed its call for greater investment in university education to sustain the growing global recognition of Nigerian institutions.

Okebukola welcomed the expansion of the committee’s mandate, expressing optimism that sustained investment, stronger institutional capacity and a unified national ranking framework would enable more Nigerian tertiary institutions to compete confidently with leading institutions globally.

The Federal Ministry of Education said the initiative was expected to promote a more coordinated assessment of tertiary institutions while providing a common framework for measuring institutional performance nationwide.