The National Universities Commission (NUC) in its 2021 universities ranking, revealed that only 25 universities in the country have fully accredited courses.
There are 170 public and private universities in Nigeria. According to the NUC, less than 70 percent of courses offered by other universities are accredited.
NUC in a 146-page report by its Executive Secretary, Abubakar Rasheed, said that the ranking was coordinated by a team of experts drawn from the academic planning units of 91 universities and headed by former NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Peter Okebukola.
In the report, it was revealed that 31 universities have over 90 percent of their courses accredited. Twenty have over 80 percent accredited; 11 have above 70 percent and 11 with between zero and 50 percent accredited courses.
The commission also said eight out of the 113 universities it focused on, including the Nigeria Army University, Biu, in Borno State and Air Force Institute of Technology, have no accredited courses.
While the University of Ibadan (UI) is rated the country’s best with 454.56 points, Redeemers University (RUN) to the second spot with 384.96 points; Covenant University (368.11 points); Ladoke Akintoka University, Ogbomoso (315.23 points) and Federal University of Technology Akure (264.14 points).
However, none of the best-ranked universities were listed among the 25 institutions that have their courses 100 percent accredited.
The 25 universities with fully accredited courses are Adeleke University, Osun State; Al-Qalam University, Katsina State; Caleb University, Lagos State; Chrisland University, Lagos State; Crescent University, Ogun State; Federal University, Lokoja, Federal University, Wukari, Federal University, Kashere.
Also on the list are Hallmark University, Ogun State; Hezekiah University, Imo State; Ibrahim Babangida University, Niger State; Igbenedion University, Edo State; Kano University of Science and Technology, Kano; Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Kogi State University and Maitama Sule University, Kano State.
Others are McPherson University, Ogun State; Mountain Top University, Ogun State; Niger Delta University, Delta State; Nigeria Defence Academy; PAMO University of Medical Science, River State; Rivers State University; Samuel Adegboyega University, Edo State; Summit University, Kwara State; Umaru Musa Yar’Ardua University, Katsina State.
It was also revealed that several private institutions with very high fees performed poorly in the ranking, with 12 failing to make any contribution to what NUC classified as “knowledge economy.”
Universities in the country were ranked on several factors and this includes a percentage of academic programs which is used to measure the overall academic standing of the university, compliance with carrying capacity, the proportion of the academic staff of the university at the professorial level as well as the proportion of the academic staff who are non-Nigerians and non-Nigerian students.
Others are a proportion of staff of the university with outstanding academic achievements, Internally–generated Revenue, research output, student completion rate, doctoral graduate output for the year, stability of university calendar, and student to PC Ratio.
Before arriving at the proper rating, NUC said there was a computation on student-teacher ratio; percentage of full professors; percentage of international staff and students; percentage of programs with full accreditation; efficiency which is measured as student completion rate; all citations per capita; All h-index per capita; All 1-10-index per capita; Google scholar presence and contribution to knowledge economy.
Mountain Top University was listed as the only institution with a 100 percent presence on Google scholar. It was followed by Babcock University, 91.22 percent; University of Port Harcourt, 89 percent; Rivers State University, 82 percent, and Edo State University, 81 percent.
The Bells University of Technology has a 65.63 percent presence on Google scholar; the American University of Nigeria, 62.76 percent, and Afe Babalola University, 26.99 percent.
The report showed that Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, has no single presence on Google scholar.
None of the universities that featured in the ranking has a full complement of professors it needs with the highest-ranked in terms of full professorship being Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto with 36.44 percent Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with 35.80 percent, UI with 29.04 percent, the University of Abuja with 25.53 percent and the University of Benin with 23.26 percent.
The remaining 108 universities have less than 20 percent of full professors with Summit University having no single professor. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Nigeria, University of Lagos, and Afe Babalola university have 18.92; 15.51; 14.74, and 14.71 percent respectively.
On the availability of International staff, Skyline University was ranked first with 65.23 percent presence, followed by the American University of Nigeria with 20 percent and Nile University, Abuja, 12.11 percent
Forty universities have no presence of international staff, with seven of them being federal universities.
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) lead the others in terms of student-to-teacher ratio with 363.35 points followed by Tai Solarin University, 88.26 points.
Adamawa State University, University of Abuja, the University of Benin, and University of Lagos followed with 59.24; 43.49; 24.47, and 20.73 points respectively.
In terms of ranking by efficiency, Niger Delta University was ranked highest with 99.49 percent, followed by Babcock University, Bowen University, Tai Solarin University of Education, McPherson University, and the Federal University of Technology, Minna.
UI also led in per capita All citations with 377.52 points. RUN came second with 304.4 points followed by Covenant University and Ladoke Akintoka University with 279.37 and 245.78 points respectively.