No Nigerian Varsity In Top 400 List – Report

The latest ranking of world universities released by the Times Higher Education (THE) for 2012-2013 has indicated that no Nigerian university made the list of the best 400 in the world.

A report released by THE at the weekend suggests that no public or private University in Nigeria is included in the latest ranking by the London-based  weekly magazine,  acclaimed to be the United Kingdom’s leading higher education news publication.

According to the report, the top four universities in Africa all came from South Africa, with the University of Cape Town which ranks 113 in the world with 55.8 as number one on the continent. The universities of Witwatersrand, Stellenbosch and Kwazulu-Natal, all in South Africa, came second, third and fourth with 226, 251 and 351 overall scores respectively.

According to THE, California Institute of Technology, United States, with overall score of 95.5, University of Oxford, United Kingdom and Stanford University in United States came first, second and third in the world.

American universities dominate the Times Higher Education global rankings for 2012-13, occupying seven of the top 10 spots, but Asian institutions are on the rise as reflected in the report.

The ranking shows the California Institute of Technology retained number one position, but Harvard University dropped to four - it was equal second with Stanford University last year - and the University of Oxford and Stanford shared second place.

The top 10 group is largely stable, including, as it did last year, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago.

The THE report said it employed 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, which are trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.

It said the methodology for the 2012-13 World University Rankings is identical to that used for the 2011-12 tables, offering a year-on-year comparison based on true performance rather than methodological change.

“Our 13 performance indicators are grouped into five areas: teaching -- the learning environment (worth 30 per cent of the overall ranking score); research --volume, income and reputation (worth 30 per cent); citations -- research influence (worth 30 per cent); industry income -- innovation (worth 2.5 per cent);  international outlook -- staff, students and research (worth 7.5 per  cent).