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Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State has emerged Nigeria's number one university out of 65 on the quality of scholarly research output.
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State has emerged Nigeria's number one university out of 65 on the quality of scholarly research output. Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) and the University of Ibadan (UI) were ranked second and third respectively.
Using similar methodology as the 2004 World University Ranking Exercise for the research indicator, the National Universities Commission (NUC) carried out the exercise which lasted four weeks.
Executive Secretary of the Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola said, "all the Directors of Academic Planning in Nigerian Universities and 51 professional staff of NUC implemented the transparent, bottom-up and all-inclusive process which is being documented as a model for Africa."
The research indicator is one of the key variables in the world ranking exercise. It is a measure of the research output and standing in the area of scholarship of the staff in the university. Only scholarly articles published in high-class international journals were considered. As it is the case in the methodology of the world ranking exercise, all publications in local journals were exempt as only scholarly articles which made significant contributions to global and national development and published in journals with editorial offices in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia with contents abstracted in scholarly indexes and physically sighted by the NUC review team, were eligible for scoring.
The top 20 universities and their scores are as follows:
-Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife (200)
-Federal University of Technology, Akure (186)
-University of Ibadan, Ibadan (154)
-University of Lagos, Lagos (144)
-University of Agriculture Abeokuta (74)
-University of Ilorin, Ilorin (62)
-University of Benin, Benin City (50)
-Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (44)
-Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt (32)
-University of Calabar, Calabar (30)
-Federal University of Technology, Owerri (22)
-Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (20)
-Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi (18)
-University of Ado-Ekiti, Ado Ekiti (18)
-University of Uyo, Uyo (14)
-University of Agriculture Makurdi (12)
-Delta State University, Abraka (12)
-Nasarawa State University, Keffi (12)
-Abia State University, Uturu (12)
-University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri (10)
It is instructive to examine in some detail, the Faculties that excelled in research in the top three universities.
The top-ranking Faculties in Research at OAU are, Science with a research score of 68, Agriculture, 36; Environmental Design and Management, 36; Pharmacy, 36; Technology, 18; Social Sciences, 4; and Law 2.
FUTA's School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology scored 104, followed by School of Sciences, 74; Environmental Technology, 4; Engineering and Engineering Technology, 2, while School of Mines and Earth Science also scored 2. Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry came first at the University of Ibadan with 42 points, followed by Public Health with 34, Science, 26; Pharmacy, 14 and Clinical Sciences, 12.
Basic Medical Sciences scored 10, Education, 8; Dentistry 4 and Veterinary Medicine, also 4.