The January 2012 report of Webometrics, a world tertiary education ranking institutions organisation, has shown that only three institutions in Nigeria made the list of first 100 best universities in Africa and none in the first 1,600 in the world.
The University of Benin ranked 1,639th on the global scale, the 18th in Africa and the first in Nigeria, followed by the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State as the second in Nigeria and the 2,266th in the world. It however did not show on the first 100 list in Africa.
The University of Ibadan, the third in the African first 100, was the 2,515th in the world and 53rd in Africa, while the University of Nigeria, Nsukka is 3,228th, Obafemi Awolowo University-3,263rd and the University of Lagos- 3,486th, were the fourth fifth and sixth, respectively, in Nigeria.
Others were the Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ilorin-4,302nd, University of Jos 5,681st, Auchi Polytechnic- 254th and the National Open University of Nigeria- 6,576th, which came seventh, eighth, nineth, 10th and 11th, respectively on the African list.
The Auchi Polytechnic, being the 24th in Africa retained its position as the best polytechnic in Nigeria.
Topping the world list were the Havard University, which maintained its first position followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley that came second, third, fourth and fifth respectively.
The University of Cape Town dropped to second position in Africa.
The report showed a significant drop in the quality of Nigeria’s tertiary education compared to the previous rankings.
For instance, in the 2011 report, eight institutions in Nigeria made the African best 100 list. They included University of Ilorin (20th), University of Jos (42nd), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (54th), University of Lagos (58th), Obafemi Awolowo University (63rd), Ahmadu Bello University (69th), National Open University of Nigeria (86th) and the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (95th).
The first five in Africa were the Mauritius Institute of Education, Mauritius (387th in the world), University of Cape Town, South Africa (532th), Rhodes University, South Africa (573rd), Cairo University, Egypt (687th) and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (819th).
In a related development, a report from 24/7 Wall St has listed the United States, Japan, Canada, Norway, Finland, United Kingdom, South Korea, New Zealand, Israel and Australia as countries with the most educated people.
According to the journal, the countries that invest the most in education have the most educated people
