UI best varsity in Nigeria —NUC

THE National Universities Commission (NUC), in its latest 2015 ranking, has rated the University of Ibadan (UI) first among itspeers in Nigeria.

The NUC ranking placed other first generation universities in the top five with the University of Lagos ranked second, University of Benin, third, Obafemi Awolowo University, fourth and Ahmadu Bello University, fifth.

The ranking indicated that the University of Ilorin is sixth, Lagos State University, 11th, while the Covenant University led Pan African University (18th) to occupy 13th position.

University of Jos (seventh), University of Port Harcourt (eighth), University of Maiduguri (ninth), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (10th), Federal University of Technology, Owerri (12th), University of Nigeria (14th), Federal University of Technology, FUTA (15th), Nnamdi Azikiwe University, (16th), Enugu State University of Science and Technology (17th), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH (19th), Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola (20th).

Reacting to the latest ranking, the Vice Chancellor of UI, Professor Idowu Olayinka, said the university was thinking more about ranking among the top five in Africa in the next few years.

Professor Olayinka said the premier university was positioned to achieve the feat, owing to its highly developed Postgraduate school, with easily the largest number of Masters and Doctoral students in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Being number one in Nigeria and number one in West Africa should not be taken for granted. The real challenge is for us to be ranked among the top five in Africa in the next few years. This is do-able, given the pedigree of Ibadan over the last 68 years.

“As we speak, we have perhaps the most highly developed postgraduate school, with easily the largest number of Masters and Doctoral students in sub-Saharan Africa. The UI school of Business has been approved by the National Universities Commission and it is set to take off soon with its flagship MBA programme, which used to be run by our Department of Economics,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Senate of the University has approved the withdrawal of 97 students from the university for failure to obtain the minimum academic requirements at the end of the 2014/15 session.

A special bulletin released by the institution and signed by its Registrar, Olujimi Olukoya, said the students were from seven faculties across the university.

The expelled students were at various levels of education pursuit, including those in final year, adding that some of the students had lapsed studentship while three voluntarily withdrew from the institution.