From Taiye Joseph, Ilorin
The University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), has emerged as Nigeria’s number one university in Research Quality in the latest Times Higher Education (THE), World University Rankings, scoring 69.4 per cent, the highest by any Nigerian university ranked this year.
The latest ranking was released recently at the World Academic Summit hosted by the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
A statement made available to newsmen at the weekend by the university’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr Kunle Akogun, said the ranking assessed universities across five pillars: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry.
The statement quoted the University Ranking Implementation Project Manager, Prof. Suleiman Ambali, as saying that “research quality is UNILORIN’s strongest turf”, adding that the university would seek to convert the strength into wider international recognition and work towards the 801–1000 band in the next edition.
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According to Akogun, an analysis of the latest results showed that UNILORIN had moved from the 1201–1500 band in the previous ranking to the 1001–1200 global band.
“Our university is now one of the seven Nigerian universities in the global top 1,200,” he said.
Akogun added that UNILORIN ranked ahead of the University of Lagos, Bayero University, Kano, and the University of Ibadan in research quality, which carries 30 per cent of the overall score and measures the extent to which a university’s research is cited by scholars worldwide.
Reacting to the development, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Wahab Egbewole, SAN, said the achievement was the product of sustained academic commitment.
“This outcome is not accidental but a reflection of years of patient, disciplined scholarship by colleagues who publish work that the world reads and cites,” Egbewole said.
The Vice Chancellor commended lecturers, researchers, postgraduate supervisors and students whose academic contributions, he said, played a role in the university’s improved ranking.
