UI Ranks 601 in Latest Global Varsity Ranking

By Ademola Babalola in Ibadan

Despite the underfunding by the federal government, the University of Ibadan has finally been ranked among 1,000 best universities in the world.

The latest ranking which was carried out by the top rated organisation Times Higher Education (THE), showed that it is the only Nigerian university that made it to the top 1,000 globally ranked universities. 

The latest ranking was based on teaching, research, citations of scholarly publications, industry income and international outlook.

Despite being the only university which entered the list of top universities in the world, the University of Ibadan came behind South African universities with University of Cape Town ranking 148 followed by Stellenbosch University (401), University of KwaZulu Natal (501).

University of Ghana, Legon (600) is the only university from Ghana in the latest ranking and it is ranked ahead of Nigeria’s premier university.

Only 22 universities across Africa made it to the world class universities with South Africa and Egyptian universities dominating.

Reacting to the latest ranking, Vice Chancellor University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka, said the university is blessed with world class scholars who are dedicated to their calling and must be engaged by Nigeria to solve her problems.

While saying the latest ranking is a welcome development, Professor Olayinka urged the federal government to allocate special privilege funding to the University of Ibadan to improve research infrastructure to rise further in future ranking.

“The truth of the matter is that the Times Higher Education Rankings is one of the elite global ranking bodies. It is a thing of joy that we have a respectable position in comparison to peer universities in Africa. This is message to the Federal Government of Nigeria that we need funding to improve our research infrastructure and funding support in order to enhance productivity. We congratulate all faculty, staff and students who have made this feat possible. The federal government should learn to use research output from university of Ibadan to solve problems facing the country. We cannot have world class scholars in Nigeria and rely on those who have never conducted researches on our problems to come and solve our problems”