By Samuel Olusegun Precious
A faith-based institution of higher learning, Covenant University, federal government owned Universities of Ibadan and Lagos have emerged as Nigeria’s top universities in the latest Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.
The July 2026 edition of the ranking, which assessed over 32,000 institutions globally, placed the University of Ibadan as Nigeria’s best, ranked 1,291 in the world. University of Lagos came second in Nigeria at 1,355 globally, followed by University of Nigeria, Nsukka at 1,397.
Covenant University, Ota, ranked as the fourth best in Nigeria and the top private university in the country, with a global position of 1,522. Landmark University completed the top five at 1,659 globally.
Others in the top 10 include University of Ilorin (1,883), Obafemi Awolowo University (1,986), Ahmadu Bello University (2,068), University of Port Harcourt (2,077) and Federal University of Technology, Akure (2,203).
The Webometrics ranking, unlike reputation-focused rankings, evaluates universities based on web visibility, openness of research, and excellence measured by citation impact.
Globally, Harvard University retained the number one spot, followed by Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Oxford and University of Washington.
American universities dominated the global top 10, occupying seven positions.
