The University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has emerged as the number one university in Nigeria for quality research in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings system.
The ranking results, released on September 30 at the World Academic Summit hosted by the University of Cape Town, South Africa, scored Unilorin 69.4 percent, the highest by any Nigerian university this year.
This was contained in a statement made available to journalists in Ilorin over the weekend by the institution’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun.
He stated that the ranking assesses universities across five pillars: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry.
The statement quoted the University Ranking Implementation Project Manager, Prof. Suleiman Folorunso Ambali, as saying that “Research quality is Unilorin’s strongest turf,” and that the university aims to convert it into wider international recognition and work toward the 801–1000 band in the next edition.
According to the university’s spokesman, an analysis of the results shows that the University of Ilorin has risen from the 1201–1500 band into the 1001–1200 world band.
“Unilorin is now one of the seven Nigerian universities in the global top 1,200,” he added, noting that the institution is ahead of the University of Lagos, Bayero University Kano, and the University of Ibadan in quality research, which carries 30 percent of the overall score and measures how widely a university’s research is cited by scholars worldwide.
Speaking on the development, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, said that, “this outcome is not accidental, but a reflection of years of patient, disciplined scholarship by colleagues who publish work that the world reads and cites.”
Egbewole commended every lecturer, researcher, postgraduate supervisor, and student whose work contributed to the global ranking of the university.