Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso, is climbing up again to reclaim and long retain the position of the best state varsity in Nigeria.
At the heights of its glory in the 2000s, it was ranked consistently not only as the best state university but as the third best university in Nigeria.
The crisis that engulfed the institution for the most part of the last decade over ownership structure and concurrent withholding of grants by the then owner states of Oyo and Osun, saw its fortune plummeted unfortunately.
However, the bold step by the incumbent governor of Oyo state, Engr. Seyi Makinde, to wrench the ownership solely for Oyo state has seen the 1990-founded education citadel rising in performance again.
Only last month, AD Scientific Index, a leading global ranking body based in Turkey, in its 2021 world scientist and university rankings, placed LAUTECH as the 11th best varsity in Nigeria behind the University of Ibadan (UI), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) and University of Calabar (UNICAL).
Also ahead of her in the ranking, based on the quality of scientists, are Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), University of Benin (UNIBEN), University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).
AD Scientific Index had noted the ranking “reveals the competency of institutions to attract prized scientists and the ability of institutions to encourage advances and retain scientists.”
The Webometric rankings released days ago also ranked LAUTECH as the best state and 12th best in the country.
The Ranking Web or Webometrics is the “largest academic ranking of Higher Education Institution” based on the assessment of Composite Indicators and Web Impact Factors”.
“The original aim of the Ranking is to promote academic web presence, supporting the Open Access initiatives for increasing significantly the transfer of scientific and cultural knowledge generated by the universities to the whole Society.
“In order to achieve this objective, the publication of rankings is one of the most powerful and successful tools for starting and consolidating the processes of change in the academia, increasing the scholars’ commitment and setting up badly needed long term strategies,” Webometrics said on its website.
Havard University is ranked best in the world, with no Nigerian university rated among the top 1, 000 in the world.
The 12 best ranked universities in Nigeria according to Webometrics are as follows: University of Ibadan (1196 in the world), Covenant University Ota (2628 in the world), Obafemi Awolowo University (1503 in the world), University of Nigeria (1554 in the world), University of Lagos (1711 in the world), University of Port Harcourt (2102 in the world), Ahmadu Bello University (2127 in the world), Federal University of Technology Akure (2172 in the world), Landmark University (2298 in the world), Federal University of Technology Minna (2748 in the world) and Bayero University Kano (2805 in the world).
LAUTECH is 12th in Nigeria and 2848 in the world.
While one congratulates LAUTECH, the institution is urged to strive to break as a short term goal into the 1,000 top universities in the world.
