UI, LASU, UNILAG make top in the world university rankings 2021

Times Higher Education (THE) today announced the results of its World University Rankings 2021.

In Nigeria, THE ranked the University of Ibadan (UI) as the number one university in the country which is ranked at number 401–500.

This is followed by Lagos State University (LASU) in second place and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) occupying the third position at number 501-600 and 601-800 respectively.

The ranking also placed Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State as the best private university and 4th on the national ranking.

The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OUA) Ile-ife occupied the 5th and 6th position positions.

However, on the global scale, the UK’s University of Oxford claims the top spot for the 5th consecutive year, while the United States domination of the top 10 masks wider decline and mainland China’s Tsinghua University becomes the first-ever Asian university to break into the top 20 since the current methodology launched in 2011.

The US claims a record eight places in the top 10, after the University of California, Berkeley climbed six places to seventh, but US universities outside the top 200 show signs of decline.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021 includes more than 1,500 universities across 93 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

According to THE, this year’s ranking analysed more than 80 million citations across over 13 million research publications and included survey responses from 22,000 scholars globally.

Meanwhile, there are 141 first-time entrants in the rankings this year, topped by France’s recently merged Paris-Saclay University (joint 178th). India has the highest number of new entries (14) and as a result, boasts a record number of ranked institutions (63).