Covenant University and the University of Ibadan (UI) are the jointly highest-ranked universities in Nigeria, both coming 800-1,000, in Times Higher Education’s (THE) largest World University Rankings. The
Federal University of Technology Akure and the University of Lagos are the second-highest-ranked universities in the country coming in the band 1001-1200.
Nigeria has two universities in the top 1,000 and seven in the top 1,500 in the world.
The top 10 universities in Nigeria suffered a setback in this year’s World University Rankings. The University of Lagos dropped from 401–500 to 1001–1200 and lost the title of the best-ranked university in the country (which it held jointly with the University of Ibadan last year). The University of Ibadan also dropped significantly from 401–500 last year to band 801–1000.
In the 20th year of the ranking 1,904 universities – up from 1,799 from last year – from 108 countries and regions are ranked.
THE’s World University Rankings 2024 are the most comprehensive, rigorous, and balanced global ranking assessing research-intensive universities across 18 performance indicators covering their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and internationalization.
Nigerian Universities in THE’s World University Rankings 2024
| Institution | Rank 2024 | Rank 2023 |
| Covenant University | 801–1000 | 601–800 |
| University of Ibadan | 801–1000 | 401–500 |
| Federal University of Technology Akure | 1001–1200 | 1001–1200 |
| University of Lagos | 1001–1200 | 401–500 |
| Bayero University | 1201–1500 | 1001–1200 |
| University of Ilorin | 1201–1500 | 1201–1500 |
| The University of Nigeria Nsukka | 1201–1500 | 1201–1500 |
| Afe Babalola University | 1501+ | NR |
| University of Benin | 1501+ | 1201–1500 |
| Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta | 1501+ | 1501+ |
| Ladoke Akintola University of Technology | 1501+ | 1501+ |
| Lagos State University | 1501+ | NR |
| Nnamdi Azikiwe University | 1501+ | 1501+ |
| Obafemi Awolowo University | 1501+ | 1201–1500 |
| University of Port Harcourt | 1501+ | NR |
Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The number of Nigerian universities in the rankings has grown considerably over the years with just four in 2020, six in 2022 doubling to 12 in 2023, and up to 15 this year.
Several updates have been made to the World University Rankings 2024 methodology to include unprecedented levels of breadth, depth, detail, and assessment of data making it the most rigorous and robust ranking of its kind in the world.
This year there are 18 calibrated performance indicators (up from 13 last year), which are grouped into five pillars: teaching, research quality, research environment, international outlook, and industry. Four of the five new metrics include three that look at Research Quality and one that examines patents in the industry pillar.
Since 2021, research quality has declined significantly in Nigeria relative to the rest of the world. In contrast, the country’s international score, compared to the world average, has been growing steadily over the last four years.
Phil Baty, THE’s Chief global affairs officer, said: “While Nigeria’s universities faced several setbacks this year, what is particularly encouraging is that more and more universities in the country are submitting data to the rankings. They are keen to stand up and be counted, to compete, and importantly make their presence felt on the global university stage. Only with this kind of rigorous, global benchmarking can Nigerian universities identify the challenges and opportunities for improved international competitiveness.
“We strongly encourage even more universities in the country to participate in the most comprehensive, authoritative, and rigorous ranking of its kind in the world and to deploy the data to develop a clear pathway to success.”
The UK’s University of Oxford is the highest-ranked university in the world in the World University Rankings with Stanford University taking second place, making it the US’s top-ranked university, and in third place is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
THE’s top 10 universities in the world
| Institution | Country/region | 2024 Rank |
| University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 1 |
| Stanford University | United States | 2 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States | 3 |
| Harvard University | United States | 4 |
| University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 5 |
| Princeton University | United States | 6 |
| California Institute of Technology | United States | 7 |
| Imperial College London | United Kingdom | 8 |
| University of California, Berkeley | United States | 9 |
| Yale University | United States | 10 |
View the full World University Rankings 2024 results and see the World University Rankings 2024 methodology.
