The University of Ibadan has reclaimed its position as Nigeria’s best university in the 2026 Times Higher Education rankings.
UI moved from fourth place last year to top the national list again.
The University of Ibadan (UI) has been named the best university in Nigeria in the 2026 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, reclaiming the top position it last held in 2023.
The ranking, released on Thursday and published on THE’s official website, placed UI in the 801–1000 range globally, ahead of other Nigerian universities. The Federal University based in Oyo State moved up from fourth position in 2025 to take the top spot this year, displacing Covenant University, which ranked first in both 2024 and 2025.
The global ranking evaluated 2,191 universities across 115 countries, using 18 performance indicators under five key areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry connections, and international outlook.
Following UI on the Nigerian list are the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in second place, Bayero University Kano (BUK) in third, and Covenant University in fourth. The latest results highlight improvements in both public and private institutions as well as shifts in research and industry collaboration standards across the country.
Globally, the 2026 assessment reviewed more than 18.7 million research publications and over 174 million citations, alongside responses from 108,000 scholars. The report noted that UNILAG recorded the highest research quality score in Nigeria with 66.7 points, while BUK ranked best in international outlook. Covenant University maintained its dominance in industry impact, recording the country’s highest industry score.
Out of the 51 Nigerian universities featured in the 2026 ranking, UI and UNILAG were the only ones placed between 801 and 1000. BUK, Covenant, and Landmark University ranked between 1001 and 1200, while five others, including Ahmadu Bello University, Federal University of Technology Minna, University of Ilorin, University of Jos, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, were placed between 1201 and 1500.
Another 14 universities, such as Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Benin, and Lagos State University, were placed above 1501, while 27 Nigerian institutions were listed but not ranked.
According to THE, universities must meet certain criteria to be included in the ranking. Institutions are only ranked if they teach undergraduate students, conduct research across various disciplines, and publish at least 1,000 scholarly papers between 2020 and 2024, with a minimum of 100 per year.
