NO Nigerian university made it to the top 1,000 in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings released on June 19..
Only three of about 300 Nigerian universities, namely University of Ibadan (UI), University of Lagos (UNILAG), and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria,were included in the rankings.
The UI and UNILAG maintained positions within the 1,001–1,200 band, while ABU appeared in the 1,201–1,400 category.
The QS World University Rankings, released annually by Quacquarelli Symonds, evaluate universities using eight key metrics: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-to-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, international student ratio, international research network, graduate employment outcomes, and sustainability.
Despite their longstanding reputations and large graduate output each year, Nigerian universities still lag behind in critical areas like research production, international partnerships, and graduate employability, key factors that significantly impact global university rankings.
In contrast, Egypt topped the list in Africa with 20 universities featured in the 2026 rankings, followed by South Africa with 11, and Tunisia with four.
Ghana and Morocco each had two universities listed, while Kenya, Libya, Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia had one each.
QS World University Rankings 2026: Global Top 10
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology – United States
2. Imperial College London – United Kingdom
3. Stanford University – United States
4. University of Oxford – United Kingdom
5. Harvard University – United States
6. University of Cambridge – United Kingdom
7. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Switzerland
8. National University of Singapore – Singapore
9. University College London – United Kingdom
10. California Institute of Technology – United States
Fatimah Quadri is a Journalist and a Fact-checker at The ICIR. She has written news articles, fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy in an effort to combat information disorder.
She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or fquadri@icirnigeria.org