The University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State, has reclaimed its position as Nigeria’s best university in the 2026 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
Published on Thursday via THE’s official website, the ranking placed UI within the 801–1,000 band globally, marking a major comeback for the country’s premier institution, which last held the top national spot in 2023.
The 2026 assessment covered 2,191 universities across 115 countries, evaluating them based on 18 performance indicators under five key categories: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry engagement, and international outlook.
UI’s rise from fourth position in the 2025 rankings to first in 2026 dethroned Covenant University, which had previously led the list for two consecutive years (2024 and 2025).
The University of Lagos (UNILAG), Bayero University, and Covenant University followed in second, third, and fourth positions respectively.
Globally, the 2026 edition of the ranking reflected notable shifts in the higher education landscape, with THE analysing more than 174.9 million citations from 18.7 million research publications, alongside responses from over 108,000 scholars worldwide.
Within Nigeria, UNILAG stood out for research excellence, earning the highest score in research quality at 66.7 points, underscoring the growing competitiveness among the nation’s top universities.
