By HigherEd

In response to the thread "Lautech Rated Best University - Webometrics".

First of all it is important to note that no global ranking ever uses academic stability to rank universities because it wouldn't make any sense in majority of countries worldwide since their universities really never go on strike. However in a Nigerian setting, Academic Stability should always be a major consideration for determining a University to attend or which is 'Best'

I have seen the Lautech community brandishing the Webometrics ranking as a vindication of their university above all else but it is not. The Webometric ranking simply considers a university research output and how many external influences relate with those research output. This gives an idea of who the research intensive universities are. However it is so not conclusive because unlike Times and the rest it doesn't assess the quality of teaching directly, though there is a strong correlation between research active institutions and excellent pedagogy, internationalisation and other factors that are critical to prospective admission seekers.

HOW DID LAUTECH END UP BEST STATE UNIVERSITY DESPITE BEING SHUT FOR YEARS
The Webometrics ranking of 2018 assessed academic output of all higher institutions worldwide between 2011-2015 and how the global research community related to those activities. Harvard as Usual took the usual number one position. Since Lautech major crisis started post 2015 there was no way they would have been affected. However there is a huge possibility that Lautech would drop severely by 2020 rankings because of the crippling strike they had between 2016 and 2017

WHY DO RANKINGS USE PREVIOUS YEARS FOR ANALYSIS?
They do this so that the research output of those universities would have had enough time to circulate and be used adequately(if valuable) so when citations are measured years later then the result would be an accurate description of that research work.

DOES LAUTECH CONDUCT ADEQUATE RESEARCH WORK?
While most Nigerian universities don't produce novel products or cutting edge technology due to low funding of research, they still contribute to the body of knowledge which is also very appreciable. However in the comity of Nigerian STATE universities LAUTECH has no rival in Nigeria and this is evidenced by their large output on research gate which everyone can check by themselves and compare with other state universities.

IS LAUTECH THE BEST STATE UNIVERSITY IN NIGERIA?
Absolutely Not! As I said earlier the Webometrics ranking is largely focused only on research output and doesn't consider other factors which might not be a big deal out there in the West but certainly a big deal here in Nigeria.


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