Low ranking of Nigerian varsities discouraging —FG

THE Federal Government has described as discouraging the consistent low ranking of Nigerian universities in the league of top universities in the world.

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, expressed this displeasure, at the weekend, in Abuja.

In view of this, the Emeritus Professor, Ayo Banjo has advised the Federal Government to consider setting up  a Nigerian Universities Ranking Council (NURC), to encourage periodic local and global ranking of the nation’s universities.

The minister of Education and Banjo spoke at the National Universities Commission (NUC) maiden international lecture series titled: ‘Global Rankings and the Nigerian Higher Education System’.

Adamu, while expressing the Federal Government’s commitment to increase support to the Nigerian University System (NUS), challenged universities in the country to be globally competitive in terms of conduct of cutting age research and quality of graduates produced by the institutions.

Meanwhile, Professor Ayo Banjo while delivering his lecture, urged the Nigerian University System to develop a ranking scheme.

He also called for the establishment of a Nigerian Universities Ranking Council (NURC), to provide a framework that would enable a credible, verifiable consistent, transparent and reliable periodic ranking of Nigerian universities.

According to him, in an increasing competitive world, the traditional and conservative notion of a university was continually being refined to ensure it was flexible and dynamic.

The ranking system he stressed, would stimulate a healthy rivalry amongst Nigerian universities and spur continuous efforts towards performing their roles in line with best practices.

“In line with emerging trends that are fostering comparability and competition in the global higher education sector, there is need for the Nigerian University System (NUS) to develop and implement a ranking scheme,” Professor Banjo said.

The Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Abubakar Rasheed, noted that the ranking scheme was necessary “because of the low ranking of Nigerian universities in global universities ranking across the globe.

“An entity which will be vested with the authority to carry out the periodic ranking of Nigerian universities must first be identified. For this purpose, it is recommended that a Nigerian Universities Ranking Council (NURC) be set up.

“The council would provide a platform where the expertise of the relevant stakeholders can be harnessed to provide a creditable framework for the ranking exercise,” he said.