A look at the search trends in Nigeria between Jan 1st till date has revealed that Nigerians have been conducting more online searches for federal than private or state-owned universities so far in 2014. The comparative study which was developed using Google’s Search Trends tool offers a unique perspective into how Nigerians have been searching for the 129 tertiary institutions in 2014. The ranking also bears some similarities to other top universities rankings such as those produced by 4ICU, where 3 of the highest ranked Nigerian universities also appear on the top 5 most searched-for Nigerian universities list.
Topping the list are 3 of the oldest federal universities in Nigeria; the University of Lagos (Unilag), the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). The 3 of them were also the 3 most searched-for nigerian universities on Google in 2013. The Ota-based Covenant university placed 6th, thereby taking the position of most searched-for private university in Nigeria, with the National Open University (NOUN) and the University of Ibadan coming in at 4th and 5th respectively. Further comparison between the top 5 universities in 2014 data reveals that although OAU received more searches than the other 4 schools in May, Unilag maintained a sustained lead throughout the year- a position which the school also held in 2013.
The study also notes that although there was a reduction in the amount of searches for the word “university” between December 2013 and January 2014, the numbers have now grown – though not as high as it was in May 2013.
Perhaps the most surprising detail in the study is related to the states from which people have been searching for the term “university”. While many would have been expecting to see Lagos topping the list, it didn’t even appear on the list of top 7. Occupying the top position is Oyo state, followed by Osun and Adamawa state.
Commenting on the newly released report Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager for West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade said “The internet is playing an ever increasing role in the decision making. Students are online searching and consuming content in all forms when they are deciding whether or not to go to university and deciding which universities to apply for”
We expect that as the number of online internet users in Nigeria continues to grow, and more universities expand their use of online tools for marketing, these numbers will continue to go up said Kola-Ogunlade.
The Google data suggests that academics, accustomed to university terms, will also need to pay attention to search terms.
The full ranking of top 50 universities can be found below.
1 university of lagos, unilag
2 obafemi awolowo university, oau
3 university of nigeria nsukka, unn
4 national open university of nigeria
5 university of ibadan
6 covenant university
7 university of ilorin
8 babcock university
9 university of abuja
10 kogi state university
11 nigerian defence academy
12 bowen university
13 university of benin
14 nasarawa state university
15 delta state university
16 lagos state university
17 ahmadu bello university
18 benue state university
19 university of calabar
20 university of uyo
21 bayero university
22 adekunle ajasin university
23 osun state university
24 olabisi onabanjo university
25 university of jos
26 imo state university
27 afe babalola university
28 nnamdi azikiwe university
29 ekiti state university
30 landmark university
31 abia state university
32 ambrose alli university
33 madonna university
34 ebonyi state university
35 kwara state university
36 kaduna state university
37 university of agriculture makurdi
38 oduduwa university
39 technical university
40 federal university wukari
41 university of maiduguri
42 redeemers university
43 federal university lokoja
44 american university of nigeria
45 baze university
46 caleb university
47 katsina university
48 elizade university
49 federal university of technology minna
50 lead city university
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