From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
The Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof Charles Esimone, has said that the recent rating of the university as number 10 in Nigeria at the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit in New York was below his expectations.
He said that the university deserved a better ranking considering its exploits in research and other academic activities.
The VC said that had there been an opportunity to present all the basic parameters that were required for the ranking, the university should have come tops.
Chairman of the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), Prof. Emeritus Peter Okebukola, had broken the news of the ranking in Abuja when he returned from the summit.
Okebukola said that at least 12 Nigerian universities showed remarkable improvement in world rankings and were applauded at the summit by the organisers and participants.
The ranking released by the Times Higher Education, he said has two Nigerian universities in the 401 to 500 band.
Esimone, who said that his target was to make UNIZIK one of the top 200 universities in the world before leaving office, blamed the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for the lower ranking, saying that the basic parameters for the exercise were not completed.
“We didn’t reach the optimum. We would have been about sixth or seventh because I was doing what is required strategically with the supply of information.
“What we achieved was just a work of faith. The basic parameters, about four of them were not completed, including data about student distribution.
“The strike action did not allow the staff to provide the data needed.
“We thank God all the same. About four parameters we would have put in place to showcase what we have done”, Esimone said.
The NURAC was set up by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, to mobilise Nigerian universities for and catalyse their participation in all global ranking schemes.
It was gathered that over the last 12 months, NURAC has been working with all universities and building capacities to ensure the actualisation of that mandate.