FG expands the rank of national tertiary institutions as universities, others fall under a unified framework

The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has expanded Nigeria’s national tertiary education classification framework to cover universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, with participation now mandatory for all tertiary institutions across the country.

Dr Alausa announced this in Abuja at a meeting with the Nigerian Universities Classification Advisory Committee (NURAC), now known as the Nigerian Tertiary Education Classification Advisory Committee.

The Minister said the expanded classification framework is part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda, advanced through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), to strengthen quality, accountability, institutional performance and global competitiveness in Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

He explained that the ranking would provide institutions with clear benchmarks to evaluate their performance, identify areas requiring improvement and measure progress, while promoting healthy competition and continuous institutional progress.

Dr Alausa announced that the 2026/2027 classification exercise for universities will begin in September, while the committee will determine the appropriate timing to extend the exercise to polytechnics and colleges of education.

He added that the federal government will provide funding through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), develop guidelines to institutionalize the exercise and formally communicate to vice-chancellors and heads of other tertiary institutions that participation in the ranking process is mandatory.

Speaking earlier, the Honorable Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, described the initiative as a significant step towards strengthening the accountability and quality of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

He said healthy competition is essential to encourage institutions to evaluate their performance, address identified gaps and continually improve the quality of the education they provide.

Professor Suwaiba stressed that the ranking exercise should cover both public and private institutions, stressing that it would provide a mechanism to establish and maintain minimum standards across the sector.

He assured the committee of the Ministry’s full support, adding that the exercise would help institutions understand their strengths and weaknesses, bringing about measurable improvements as Nigeria’s tertiary education system continues to expand.

Also speaking, Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, Chairman of the Nigerian Universities Classification Advisory Committee (NURAC) and former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, the NUC said the committee’s engagement with the minister followed a memorandum of congratulations to the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the growing number of Nigerian universities gaining global recognition and urging greater investment in university education to accelerate progress.

Professor Okebukola said the Minister’s response went beyond the committee’s initial proposal, resulting in the expansion of NURAC’s mandate to cover polytechnics and colleges of education and its subsequent transformation into the Nigerian Tertiary Education Classification Advisory Committee, NURAC.

He expressed optimism that sustained investment, increased institutional capacity and the new national ranking framework would enable more Nigerian institutions to make significant progress in international rankings and confidently compete with leading institutions globally.

Reassuring the committee and the nation of the Ministry’s commitment, Dr Alausa promised that the Federal Ministry of Education will provide the policy direction, funding and capacity building support needed to make the grading exercise credible, sustainable and impactful.

He said the Ministry would work with the committee to facilitate in-service training and institutional capacity building programs among tertiary institutions, with the expectation that significantly more Nigerian institutions would achieve greater global recognition in subsequent international ranking exercises.