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 among the top 1,000 institutions in the 2026 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, released on Thursday.
In a statement issued in Abuja, Okebukola revealed that the University of Ibadan (UI) and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) emerged as Nigeria’s top performers, both scoring within the 35.5 – 38.9 range.
He described this as a significant improvement over the 2025 rankings, where only Covenant University made it to the top 1,000 and was rated the best in Nigeria.
Okebukola explained that THE rankings are based on 18 carefully calibrated performance indicators, offering a comprehensive and balanced global comparison trusted by students, academics, university administrators, industries, and governments. He added that THE also runs other ranking schemes such as the Impact Rankings—where Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, has maintained consistent leadership—alongside the Sub-Saharan Africa University Rankings and Subject Rankings.
According to Okebukola, the University of Oxford retained the number one spot globally for the tenth consecutive year, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Princeton University, University of Cambridge, Harvard University, and Stanford University. He noted that Harvard, which previously dominated the rankings, slipped to fifth place, while Oxford’s strong research environment helped it remain at the top.
He further broke down the 2026 results, stating that Bayero University, Kano, Covenant University, and Landmark University appeared in the top 1,200 category, all scoring within the 32.1 – 35.4 range. However, he observed a slight decline compared to 2025, when four Nigerian universities were ranked within that same band.
In the 1,201–1,500 category, the ranked Nigerian institutions include Ahmadu Bello University, Federal University of Technology, Minna, University of Ilorin, University of Jos, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, while 14 other universities appeared in the 1500+ category.
Overall, the University of Ibadan emerged as Nigeria’s best university in the 2026 THE World University Rankings, positioned between 801 and 1,000 globally—a return to the spot it last held in 2023. The ranking, published on THE’s official website, assessed 2,191 institutions across 115 countries, using 18 performance indicators grouped under teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook.
UI climbed from fourth place in 2025 to reclaim the top position in Nigeria, dethroning Covenant University, which had been ranked best in 2024 and 2025. The University of Lagos, Bayero University, and Covenant University followed as Nigeria’s second, third, and fourth best universities, respectively.
The 2026 ranking highlighted an evolving global academic landscape, drawing on over 174.9 million citations from 18.7 million research publications, and responses from more than 108,000 scholars worldwide.
Among Nigerian institutions, UNILAG stood out for its research quality, earning the highest score of 66.7 in that category.
