From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Osun State, has emerged second best in the new webometric ranking of world universities.
on the ranking released for January 2023, OAU came second in the country with 1534 points in Impact Rank, 1020 points in Openness Rank, and 1904 points in Excellence Rank, which were the three key criteria used for the ranking.
A release by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the University, Abiodun Olarewaju, on Thursday, stated that this commendable leap, though from the third position of the University in the last ranking, came about eight months into the tenure of the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simeon Bamire, who has pledged commitment to the initiative to reposition the University in the comity of world varsities.
According to the latest ranking, the University of Ibadan was ahead of OAU, while Covenant University; the University of Port-Harcourt; the University of Nigeria; and the University of Lagos occupy the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth positions respectively.
The ranking web or webometrics is the “largest academic ranking of Higher Education Institutions” 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.
“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 in its website.