Industry experts in the field of education have insisted that for there to be any meaningful development in Nigerian university system, the next minister of education must among other things address the issue of adequate funding for the university system.
They are of the views that the next minister of education must as a matter of urgency, make plans for the nation’s manpower needs in a bid to integrate this into university programmes.
According to them, “Nigeria’s university system is faced with a plethora of problems such as university underfunding, deteriorating infrastructure/equipment for teaching, dearth of funds for scientific research, outdated curriculum, issue of university autonomy, brain-drain, student unrest and constant industrial action.
Isaac Adeyemi, former vice chancellor, Bells University of Science and Technology, Otta, Ogun state observed that presently, the Federal Government is talking about diversification of the economy to stir it away from the current challenges, but attention doesn’t seem to be paid to the education sector especially the university system.
Adeyemi opines that if government really wants to stimulate the economy, and in turn enhanced quality in the universities, the infrastructure base of the system needs to be improved. “The present situation of lecture halls, laboratories, calls for an urgent need to make available enough funds for rehabilitation of existing facilities”, he said.
According to him, “Until all these issues are resolved in a way that encourages right learning environment, empowered workforce and globally competitive research faculty, the education sector via the university system will not grow as desired”.
Peter Okebukola, Professor of Science Education, Lagos State University and former executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), says Government should look less at the ability of the Universities to generate revenue for its running.
Okebukola says rather governments at the States and federal levels should look at the impact education sector would have on the general life of the individuals and the society without. “If we continue to look at it as money making venture, we get mediocre, we harvest and get in people at the entry point and that is why so many people who don’t have controls would go into extortion and things like that because the environment seems to be highly commercial”, he said.
He observes that in a commercial university setting what people look at is what gets into their pocket, but if we see university education system as service, the operators of the system will begin to see their work as a missionary assignment until we begin to see education as a missionary assignment we will be getting it wrong.
Analysts maintain that without education, no country will forge ahead; adding that the quality of education a country has determines her economy as no country can grow more than the quality of her education.
They however expressed doubts whether Nigeria’s universities as presently constituted will be able to lay claims on being central to national capacity to connect with the new international knowledge system and adopt adapt and further develop new technologies needed in the wider society.
In 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), 1,652,825 candidates registered for the examination all over Nigeria, all competing for a system that can only absorb 500,000.
With 162 universities (41 Federal, 47 state and 74 private) recognised by the National Universities Commission (NUC), in addition to polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges in various specific disciplines, this potentially leaves over a million qualified college-age Nigerians without a post-secondary place.
In advanced economies, models for university education in United States of America, United Kingdom, reveal that curriculum been taught in universities are relevant to the socio-economic development of the nation.
A government-provided loan is available which may only be used towards tuition fee costs. Besides government funding these institutions, different funding arrangements are in place for students. With various research grants available to finance scientific research in universities, multinational companies set aside an amount to fund scientific research.
The UK’s universities have demonstrated their readiness to embrace change by modifying their financial strategies to prepare for uncertain times ahead. These initiatives are absent in Nigeria’s university system.
KELECHI EWUZIE
