By Goodwin Otang
The University of Cross River State (UNICROSS) has emerged as 7th, best University in Nigeria and 37th in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the latest ranking by the Times Higher Education Sub-Saharan Africa University Rankings, which have been developed specifically to assess the impact of universities in addressing some of the toughest challenges faced in the region, UNICROSS attain the feat amongst 88 Universities across 20 Countries in the region.
This first edition ranks 88 universities across 20 countries. Although an additional 33 institutions are listed because they provided data but did not meet our eligibility criteria to receive a rank, the list is led by South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, while the neighboring University of Johannesburg is second and the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania is third.
South Africa has the most institutions in the top 10 (four in total ), Nigeria is the most-represented nation overall, with 37 ranked institutions, led by Covenant University in seventh place. Universities in Uganda, Rwanda, and Ghana also make up the top 10.
About two-thirds of participating universities are public institutions; a quarter is private, not-for-profit organizations; and about a tenth are private, for-profit organizations.
The University was established in August 2002 as Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) but renamed in 2021 as the University of Cross River State (UNICROSS).
It was renamed precisely in February 2021 by a bill passed at the Cross River State House of Assembly which was assented to by the then State Governor, Benedict Ayade.
The change of the tertiary institution’s name was to enable the varsity to function as a conventional University, which provides the opportunity to offer more professional courses rather than focusing on tech-related courses.
Calabar campus is home to five of the university’s faculties: engineering, science, environmental sciences, communication technology, and education. Ogoja Campus houses the faculty of management science, Okuku Campus is where the faculty of basic medical sciences, and Obubra Campus is home to the faculty of agriculture and forestry.
The University is the result of the merger of three former institutions; the Polytechnic, Calabar, the College of Education, Akamkpa, and the Ibrahim Babangida College of Agriculture, Ovonum in Obubra.