Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife has made an appreciable improvement in the Webometric ranking of World Universities released for January 2023, coming 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 (3) key criteria used for the ranking.

Coming from the third position in the last ranking, and barely eight months into his tenure, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simeon Bamire, 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; University of Port-Harcourt; University of Nigeria; and University of Lagos occupy the third, fourth, fifth and sixth position respectively.

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.