AE-FUNAI MAKES IMPRESSIVE SHOWING IN MAIDEN TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUB-SAHARAN UNIVERSITIES RANKING
Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, has made an impressive showing in the maiden edition of the Times Higher Education Sub-Saharan Universities Ranking, which underscores the global recognition and acceptability of the institution as one of the emerging universities in Nigeria and Africa.

  In the ranking result released on 26th June, 2023 at Accra, Ghana, the University was rated 26th in Nigeria and 71+ in the African continent out of 121 universities that contributed data.
In fact, AE-FUNAI was among the 51 universities in Nigeria that were ranked by the renowned London-based education body.The Times Higher Education Sub-Saharan Universities Ranking methodology is based on 5 pillars: resources and finance (20%), access and fairness (20%), teaching skills (20%), student engagement (20%) and Africa impact (20%). AE-FUNAI acquitted itself creditably well in all the indicators, with much room for improvement.

This rare achievement is coming at a time the university was also ranked 1st among public universities in Nigeria, 6th  among all universities in Nigeria, and 1, 021 and 1, 591 in Africa and the world respectively in the 2023 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking of World Universities.

The recent recognitions and acceptability of the university across the continent underscore the irrevocable commitment of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sunday Elom to quality teaching, learning, research and community engagements. The Vice-Chancellor had on assumption of office urged all staff to breast up to the challenge of attaining the world-class vision of the university.

Consequently, he, directed that all academic staff register with Google Scholar and Research Gate. The University under his watch also insisted that all academic publications must be in top-tier international journals like Thompson Reuter, Scopus and Scimago and others. This enhanced the research-value of the university academic staff; and opened many doors to post-doctoral fellowships in international universities and organizations, thus enhancing the international standing of the institution.

More importantly, the numerous international collaborations the university entered into with Ivy League universities and other bodies in Europe and America, such as the Postgraduate Scholarship Partnership with the French Government, Staff and Students’ Mobility Programmes with the University of Gavle, Sweden and TUB university, Germany, Blended Learning Program with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), and many others, are some of the indices propelling the public acceptability and recognition of AE-FUNAI as a serious public university in Nigeria.

Speaking on the recent ranking, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Elom thanked the staff and students as well as the alumni of the university for their astounding academic and industrial efforts, which according to him, have repositioned the university as a top academic brand in Nigeria, assuring that his administration would continue to insist on quality academic activities across board.

He further promised to improve on the methodology of teaching and learning in the university and the continuous provision of better services for students to enable them graduate with the relevant functional knowledge and sellable skills to be globally-competitive in a knowledge-based and digital economy.