The vice chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, Prof Ibrahim Garba, has said the university was ranked the sixth-best performing university in the 2025 Scimago Institutions Rankings (SIR).

The VC stated this on Friday at the opening ceremony of a two-day Workshop on National Research Fund (NRF) Proposal Development, organised by the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Development of the institution.

He explained that Scimago Institutions Rankings is a global ranking system for universities and research institutions, developed by a Spanish research group, that evaluates performance based on research output, innovation, and societal impact.

According to him, ATBU was ranked sixth behind University of Ibadan, Covenant University, University of Nigeria (NSUKKA), University of Lagos and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Garba further explained that the institution also ranked first nationally in innovation, engineering, environmental sciences and energy studies.

“Let me start with our stellar performance, particularly in the 2025 SCImago Institutional Ranking where we were ranked first in innovation nationwide in Nigeria, which reflects our excellence in patents.

“We have a lot of patents actually, Industry collaboration, which we also have, and technological advancement. We are third in research for a growing volume of quality output and global citations,” he said.

The vice chancellor further disclosed that the university has secured three Centres of Excellence, including the TETFund Centre, the Dairy Research and Development Centre and the Bank of Industry’s North East Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises Centre.