Covenant University (CU), a leading private institution in Nigeria, has been ranked as the country’s top university in the 2025 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
The annual ranking, published by Times Higher Education, assesses universities worldwide based on 18 performance indicators across teaching, research environment, research quality, industry engagement, and international outlook.
In Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello University secured second place, followed by Landmark University, University of Ibadan (UI), and University of Lagos (UNILAG), rounding out the top five.
Full list: Covenant University ranks among Top 10 varsities in Africa
For the 2024 rankings, THE analyzed data from 1,907 universities in 108 countries, including over 134 million citations from 16.5 million research publications and survey responses from more than 68,000 scholars globally.
Nigeria’s Overall Best Universities
1.Covenant University
2.Ahmadu Bello University
3.Landmark University
4. University of Ibadan
5. University of Lagos
6. Bayero University, Kano
7. Fed Uni of Technology, Akure
8 .Fed. Uni. of Technology, Minna
9. University of Benin
10. University of Ilorin
11. University of Nigeria, Ndukka
12. Ekiti State University
13. Fed. Uni. of Agriculture, Abeokuta
14. Fed. Uni. of Technology, Owerri
15. Federal University, Oye-Ekiti
16.Ladoke Akintola University
17.Lagos State University
18. Nnamdi Azikiwe University
19.Obafemi Awolowo University
20. University of Port Harcourt
21. Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto
22.Abia State University
23. Akwa Ibom State University
24.Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike
25.Ambrose Alli University
On the global stage, the University of Oxford retained its top spot for the ninth consecutive year, while Stanford University rose to second place.
Harvard University dropped to fourth, with the University of Cambridge falling to fifth after sharing third place in 2023.