Despite the lingering Academic Staff Union of Universities strike in Nigeria which has lasted for over 8 months, Nigerian Universities have recorded the biggest improvements under Africa in the new The Times Education list of best universities.
The annual list of the world’s top universities which is published by Times Higher Education (THE) ranked 1,799 universities from 104 countries and regions with the list including 97 universities from 17 countries in Africa.
African universities are increasing their scores at a higher rate than the global average, with Nigeria recording the most improvements with 12 universities making the list, double the number from 2022.
The University of Lagos and University of Ibadan were the top ranked in the country both in the 401-500 bracket and boasting an overall score of between 42.1 and 44.9, according to the four areas in which they are ranked including teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook from the 2019-20 academic year.
The country rose from an average of 27.9 to 31.5 in overall score and overtaking Egypt to claim the number two spot (based on countries with five or more universities ranked and the same universities ranked each year) behind only South Africa who remains Africa’s leader in this area.
The area where the country seemed to have grown strong is in the rise of the pure number of peer-reviewed journals across all disciplines; democratisation of access to such journals enabled by digitisation; and increased collaboration between Nigerian academics based in Nigeria and in the diaspora, leading to greater access to outlets for dissemination of research findings.
Credits: The Times Education