FG Makes Tertiary Education Ranking Compulsory, Extends Exercise To Polytechnics, Colleges Of Education

• The Federal Government has expanded Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking framework beyond universities to cover polytechnics and colleges of education, with all public and private institutions now required to participate.

• Education Minister Maruf Tunji Alausa said the expanded ranking system would establish clear performance benchmarks, promote accountability and quality improvement, and strengthen the global competitiveness of Nigerian tertiary institutions.

• The 2026/2027 ranking exercise for universities is scheduled to commence in September, while the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee will determine when polytechnics and colleges of education will be incorporated.

• The government says TETFund funding, new institutional guidelines and capacity-building programmes will support the exercise, as stakeholders call for sustained investment to improve Nigeria’s position in global rankings.

September 01, () — The Federal Government has made participation in Nigeria’s national tertiary education ranking exercise compulsory for all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as part of efforts to strengthen quality, accountability and competitiveness across the country’s higher education system.

Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, announced the expansion on Monday in Abuja during a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC).

Following the expansion of its mandate, the committee has been renamed the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee, reflecting the Federal Government’s decision to bring the three major categories of tertiary institutions under a unified national ranking framework.

Alausa said the initiative formed part of President Bola Tinubu’s ongoing education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda, being implemented through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI).

According to him, the ranking exercise is designed to provide a structured mechanism for measuring institutional performance, identifying areas of weakness and encouraging continuous improvement across Nigeria’s tertiary education sector. He said the framework would provide institutions with clear benchmarks against which they could assess their performance and measure progress, while also fostering healthy competition among institutions.

“The ranking exercise will strengthen quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness across Nigeria’s tertiary education system”, the Minister said.

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

He said the Federal Government would provide funding for the exercise through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and develop guidelines to institutionalise the ranking process.

The minister added that the Ministry of Education would formally communicate the compulsory nature of the exercise to vice-chancellors and heads of other tertiary institutions.

The move means institutions would no longer be able to opt out of the national assessment process, as the government seeks to establish a more comprehensive picture of performance across the tertiary education system.

Alausa said the ministry would also provide the policy direction, funding and capacity-building support required to ensure that the ranking system remained credible, sustainable and capable of producing meaningful improvements.

He further disclosed that the ministry would work with the committee to facilitate in-service training and institutional capacity-building programmes for tertiary institutions.

Government Targets Quality, Accountability

Speaking earlier, the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, described the expansion as a significant development in the Federal Government’s efforts to improve accountability and quality within the tertiary education sector.

She said the ranking system would encourage institutions to regularly evaluate their performance, identify gaps and take steps to address deficiencies in their academic and administrative systems.

Suwaiba stressed that both public and private tertiary institutions should participate in the exercise, arguing that a comprehensive ranking framework would provide a mechanism for establishing and maintaining minimum standards across the sector.

According to her, healthy competition among institutions would compel them to continuously improve the quality of education and services offered to students.

The government’s decision to include polytechnics and colleges of education is also expected to broaden the assessment of tertiary education beyond the university system, bringing institutions with different mandates and academic structures into the national quality-assurance conversation.

Okebukola Seeks More Investment

Chairman of the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee and former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Emeritus Professor Peter Okebukola, said the committee’s engagement with the minister followed a memorandum congratulating the Tinubu administration on the increasing number of Nigerian universities gaining recognition in international rankings.

He said the committee had also urged the government to increase investment in university education to sustain and accelerate the progress being recorded by Nigerian institutions.

According to Okebukola, the minister’s response went beyond the committee’s original proposal by expanding the committee’s mandate to cover polytechnics and colleges of education.

He expressed optimism that sustained government investment, stronger institutional capacity and the new national ranking framework would enable more Nigerian tertiary institutions to improve their standing in international rankings.

Okebukola said the development presented an opportunity to build a more coordinated approach to assessing and improving institutional performance across the sector.

Background

Nigeria’s tertiary education system comprises universities, polytechnics and colleges of education operated by federal, state and private authorities. Over the years, concerns over inadequate funding, infrastructure deficits, staff shortages, research capacity, graduate outcomes and disparities in institutional quality have remained central to debates about the state of higher education in the country.

Nigerian universities have increasingly featured in international ranking systems, with a growing number recording improved visibility and recognition. However, international rankings typically use different methodologies and indicators, making the establishment of a national framework an important step towards developing common benchmarks for assessing institutions within the Nigerian context.

The Federal Government’s expanded framework is intended to create a broader national mechanism for measuring institutional performance while encouraging universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to identify deficiencies and compete on quality.

With participation now designated as compulsory, the success of the initiative is expected to depend largely on the credibility of its methodology, transparency of assessment, availability of reliable institutional data and the government’s willingness to back the process with sustained funding and capacity-building.

The Ministry of Education has therefore pledged to work with the newly renamed Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee to develop the necessary guidelines and support systems ahead of the expanded exercise.