Only one Nigerian university ranked among world’s top 800 universities

Only one Nigerian university is
ranked among the top 800
universities in the world,
according to Times Higher
Education World University
Rankings for 2015/2016 released
this week.
PREMIUM TIMES’ analysis of the
report showed that the University
of Ibadan, Nigeria’s oldest
university, is ranked 601st of the
world’s top 800 universities
featured in the survey, 200 steps
lower than Makerere University,
Uganda, which is ranked 401st.
The ranking was released on
Wednesday, September 30, 2015.
The University of Cape Town,
South Africa, at 120th position, is
the highest ranked university in
Africa, 481 steps higher than the
University of Ibadan.
Five other South African
universities are included in the
list of top notch universities in the
world, making it the highest from
a single African country.
They are University of
Witwatersrand (20ist);
Stellenbosch University (301st);
University of KwaZulu-Natal
(401st); University of Pretoria
(501st); and University of South
Africa (601st).
Three Egyptian universities,
Alexandria University, Cairo
University, and Suez Canal
University are all ranked 601st on
the list.
Just like Nigeria and Uganda, only
one Ghanaian university, the
University of Ghana is on the list,
and it is ranked 601st.
Morocco too has only one
university, University of
Marrakech Cadi Ayyad (601th), on
the list.
Altogether, 13 universities from
six African countries are included
among the top 800 universities in
the world.
But despite having only one
university in the ranking, this
year’s rating is a great leap for Nigeria. No
Nigerian university has featured in the
ranking since 2011 when the survey began.
The California Institute of Technology, United
States, occupies the number one spot in the
world.
The University of Oxford, United Kingdom is
on the 2nd position, while Stanford
University, United States and University of
Cambridge, United Kingdom are on the 3rd
and 4th positions respectively.