The Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, says the institution will not rest on its oars despite improvements in its ranking.
Ogundipe was reacting to the recent 2023 Times Higher Education World University Rankings released on Wednesday, October 12, 2022.
He spoke on the sidelines of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ambassador of Spain on Friday, October 14, 2022, in Lagos.
The MoU was for the teaching of Spanish language in the university.
He said that the improved ranking was well deserved and exciting, assuring that the institution would continue to push for a more enviable position among its peers globally.
The Quest Times reports that the rankings were conducted based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators, that measured an institution’s performance across four areas; teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
The institution has continued to fare better in the rankings over the years, especially since 2020.
UNILAG took a leap from the range of 801–1000 in 2020, to 601–800 in 2021, 501–600 in 2022 and now, the 401–500 in 2023.
Ogundipe said that the university would not relent in hard work and dedication, as the aim was to be ranked among the top 10 universities across the globe.
“I will like to say that the development is a feat well deserved and very encouraging, and must thank the entire university staff, (academic and non academic) for making this happen. Together we worked for it.
“Let me say the vice chancellor of Havard cannot manage any university successfully in Nigeria and I stand to be corrected. This is because he will not need to talk about security, utilities, power supply and others, which I will have to think about.
“So, I want us to know that despite the limited resources that we have, despite the hostile environment in which we are operating, we are still able to showcase the fact that our colleagues in this university can compete with any professor, or other academic staff within and outside the country and outside this continent.
“That is what we have been able to prove. In the past, we used to talk about University of Ibadan coming first in the same ranking process and general outlook, but today, we are jointly in the first position.
“So, I want to assure you that we are making progress, and by next year, UNILAG will soar like an eagle. I feel very excited that the university management is able to showcase to our colleagues that we can compete with any academic staff anywhere in the world,” he said.
The Professor of Botany noted that he was also elated that his colleagues in the institution were able to attract research grants and utilised it in the country like any other academic staff in any high profile university across the globe.
He said that with a conducive environment and other necessity work tools, staff of the university would hold their own effortlessly anywhere in the world.