Academic Standards in Nigerian Universities (original) (raw)
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Opening Remarks I am delighted to have been invited by the Vice-Chancellor and the Senate of this growing University to present this Convocation Lecture. It is a remarkable honour because most often those invited to undertake this type of assignment are from outside the active fold of the academia. However, I was emboldened by the fact as one who has been in the system for close to three decades I am equipped reasonably with the intellectual capability to share some thoughts that could be of value to colleagues and operators of the system. What actually got me tight was the situation where I was told to craft a topic of my choice; a topic which should have bearing on the university system. Such open invitation could be more difficult than when the lecturer is offered a topic which very often he would tell the organisers that they should give him the benefit of amending. I thought of so many things to write on but I convinced myself that my thought process on the university system and obvious challenges in our given situation may be more apt. I have therefore taken the liberty to speak on the Nigerian University system and the glaring challenges from its enemies and friendly enemies. I do hope this discourse will make meaning and advance the course and cause of our profession for the good of national development. The topic essentially interrogates the many phases of issues confronting tertiary institutions in the country and some of the possible ways we could identify and assuage the situation, I maybe repeating several matters we already know but I may also be likely saying them differently in more refreshing manner; so kindly lend me your ears. remains the concrete bedrock of this position just as global perspectives indicate that both economic and social development are increasingly driven by the advancement and application of knowledge 1. Within this consideration, the key factor for anticipating future development and productivity of any modern society is the number of intellectuals, thinkers, visionaries and professionals available to it. Scholars are also in agreement in conceptualizing the role of higher education, particularly universities, in social engineering for unity, national integration and development. In this recognition higher education, all over the world, has acquired an unusual profile because of its importance in the struggle of nations' to survive in a fast changing world. The level of social change, which implies a fundamental transformation in the structures of society with consequences on its continued existence, accentuated largely by knowledge economy of the society, has its nursery bed in the contending forces in a specific society 2. However, the story of education, along with the reviewing of our development has been on the agenda since colonial times, yet we entered the 21 st century largely trailing behind major regions of the world in almost all important indicators of growth, particularly in education. The status reports portray that of neglect and even acts of physical, psychological, political and economic harassment as academics attempt to assert their humanity, their creativity and their right to equality and
Nigerian University and Its Mandate in a Changing World
2014
In the context of an evolving competitive and private sector-driven economy, the Nigerian university is expected to advance itself in academic programmes, research and innovation towards academic excellence and world-class status. However, the Nigerian university system does not appear to have attained this status. What is responsible for this state of affairs? This paper, therefore, attempt to assess the system via its mandate to be world-class in a rapidly changing world. The study employed secondary data source. The ultimate objective of any university is to strive to attain academic excellence by ensuring quality teaching, research and public service. This can only be achieved when the university uses innovative curriculum and pedagogical methods under conducive circumstances. This study however, revealed that the exponential increase in the number of universities and student enrollment without necessary funds has brought about dearth of other resources and facilities such as ru...
Nigerian University and the Challenges of World-Class Status in a Changing World
2020
The paradigm shift from the developmentalist to the entrepreneurial function of university education requires a shift in the managerial sphere but management has remained in a state of flux in Nigerian universities. In the context of an evolving competitive and private sector-driven economy, the Nigerian university is expected to advance itself in academic programmes, research and innovation towards academic excellence and world-class status. However, the Nigerian university system does not appear to have attained this status. What is responsible for this state of affairs? This paper, therefore, attempts to assess the system via its mandate to be world-class in a rapidly changing world. The study employed secondary data source. The ultimate objective of any university is to strive to attain academic excellence by ensuring quality teaching, research and public service. This can only be achieved when the university uses innovative curriculum and pedagogical methods under conducive cir...
GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY IN THE POST-COLONY: PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOLARSHIP IN NIGERIA
A Journal of Theatre & Media Studies Vol. 1 No.1, , 2015
Contemporary global knowledge economy is dominantly Euro-American. This paper takes a backward glance at the evolution of University education in Nigeria and how the globalization of this western form of knowledge as acquired through language, teaching, learning and scholarship in the universities has tended to produce mal-formed clones of western notions of 'market-place' education system and values in the post-colony like Nigeria. These trends from the global knowledge economy have noticeable reverberations in Nigeria in many dimensions like widening digital divide and increasing exclusion from the global knowledge economy, devaluation of indigenous knowledge systems, increased 'white slavery' and perpetuation of the culture of dependency, as well as lack of self-confidence in local intellectual values and practice. The contradiction in this scenario is that the scholar draws from immediate culture but functions within the global; and, where that culture becomes a predominant influence as is the case in Nigeria, the future of indigenous knowledge and scholarship in the post-colony become just another endangered spoil of global knowledge capitalism. A postmodern approach of localizing knowledge, respecting and encouraging scientific difference and plurality is suggested as a negotiation of this imminent global capitalist vice-grip.
73.pdfThe future of higher education in Nigeria: Global challenges and opportunities.
In Babalola, J. B., Popoola, L., Onuka, A. Soji Oni, Olatokun, W. & Agbolahor, R. (Eds.), Towards Quality in African Higher Education. Pp. 300-318. Published by Higher Education Research and Policy Network Ibadan: (HERPNET) and University of Ibadan Postgraduate School. Ibadan Nigeria, 2008
This paper explain that among the numerous components of development of higher education are; growth in quantity, quality, relevance and diversity of curriculum [programme and courses]; widening of access and broadening of equity, innovation in teaching methods and techniques; improvement in the quantity and quality of research activities; more and better community services, as well as increase and improvement in facilities for teaching, research and administration. With these, University was specifically established to facilitate creation of new knowledge and innovation for the overall socio-economic empowerment of individual and community development. The paper argues that the recent findings on the state of higher education in Nigeria as conducted by the World Bank and UNESCO had confirmed the degradation of the Nigerian University educational system. The paper is an attempt to highlight the current status of higher education in Nigeria, by critically examining major challenges facing Nigerian University education in particular and proffer strategic and symbiotic plans /objectives that would transform Nigerian Higher Education for efficient and effective educational delivery to meet global challenges.
Globalization and the Political Economy of Higher Education in Nigeria
In this paper I contend that globalization has a profound effect on the political economy of higher education in Nigeria. Historically, I see higher education as shaped by both local and global political, economic and social forces. Higher education in turn, profoundly shapes the process of globalization since it is the arena within which ideas are produced, debated, deconstructed and reconstructed. Ideas themselves have epistemic power, and the production of knowledge is inextricably linked with the manner in which humans understand and give meaning to their lived realities. The paper also takes the position that education is inextricably connected with both human development and national development. The paper concludes that matters of higher education, being defined as a critical aspect of national interest, must reflect the collective vision of advances that Nigeria wants to make in the 21st Century and how it aims to get there. If education is deeply connected with human and national development, we should see education as a matter of national security. Nothing expresses that sentiment better than the way in which the budget allocates resources. If education is considered important in Nigeria, the percentage in federal, state and local government budgets devoted to education should be substantial and significant. However, the national budget in Nigeria does not reflect that the country cares in any kind of significant way, about education. Nigeria must take the provision of excellent education to its citizens as seriously as national security.
Perspective Chapter: Sustaining University Education for and National Development in Nigeria
IntechOpen eBooks, 2023
This chapter presents a retrospective and prospective reflections on university education in Nigeria in relation to national development. Retrospectively, the Nigerian university system was among the best in Africa and beyond, especially in the 1970s. The universities were top notch and attracted other Africans who flooded into Nigeria to study. Then the Nigerian university system possessed the four crucial elements of a universal and functional university system-quality teachers, quality students, an enabling environment for learning and international competitiveness. However, over the past three decades, the Nigerian university system has suffered benign neglect and lost its hallmark of quality, and thereby raising concerns about its role and relevance in contemporary national development. Nevertheless, this chapter expresses strong believe and conviction that the university system is still relevant for the socioeconomic and political development of the country but there is the need to take necessary actions/steps to strengthen the system towards making it have the desired and comparative international quality and functionality required to meet the requirements of contemporary challenges and the future. Suggestions were offered accordingly.
Modelling Nigerian University System for Effective Learning and Global Relevance Past, Present and Future - Published by University of Calabar Nigeria, 2008
The monograph discussed management approaches to investment in education, ideological positions on university production management, colonial approaches to postsecondary education in Nigeria (eras of training school, Yaba Higher College, University College Ibadan, College of Art, Science and Technology), development in Nigerian universities before the independence (the Harbison's estimates of Nigerian manpower needs and Ashby Commission), manpower management in the eras of public ownership and public-private partnership, university management in democratilsing Nigeria, the present state of the Nigerian University system and finally, a model was proposed to manage the university system in a knowledge based Nigeria.
SIXTY-FIVE YEARS OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: SOME KEY CROSS CUTTING ISSUES
This paper traces briefly the history and development of university education in Nigeria from one university in 1948 to a total of 118 universities as at the time of writing the paper. Besides the chronicle, the paper examines some cross-cutting issues that tend to scuttle the otherwise good intentions and robust programme initiatives of the universities to excel and match the best practices evident in world acclaimed universities. Such issues include: the ad-hoc manner in which most of the universities were/are being established; inadequate funding; crisis of access; braindrain; instability of academic calendar due to strikes; liberalization of university ownership and graduate unemployment. The paper concludes by calling on both the government and all stakeholders to seriously tackle the issue of funding as it is a veritable catalyst for excellence in any university system.
Knowledge, Power and the State of University Education
The Idea of a Nigerian University: A Revisit, 2013
Francis Isichei (chapter 1) begins with a survey of the two classical models that have dominated university orientation for two centuries: the Humboldt model, emphasizing research and its communication to students, and the Newman model, emphasizing a liberal exposure to the universe of knowledge. He tells of the reshuffling these models went through, particularly at the University of Chicago, before they were exported to Nigeria. He touches on the decline of standards in universities, the reasons for this, and moves to remedy the situation. Josephat Obi Oguejiofor (chapter 2) then tackles the central problem of this book, how to structure a university in Africa, and Nigeria in particular. He examines the university system brought by the British, and finds that, like the economy, it was aimed principally at British, not Nigerian development. It also alienated students from their own traditions and identity. Kolawole Owolabi (chapter 3) continues where Oguejiofor left off, facing squarely the issue of universality or parochiality of a university, whether in content or personnel. He rejects both the Europe orientated model exported to Africa and the neo-Afro model, which wishes to purge everything European. With the same option for universality, he rejects the exclusive choice between liberal and technical education. The two should go together, and address the aspirations of their host communities. Part II: Historical and Political Factors Anthony Akinwale (chapter 6) makes an in-depth examination of the conflict between raw power and reason. He argues that central government regulation, instead of enhancing standards, is stifling initiative and the blossoming of academic life. Ṣegun Odunuga (chapter 7) continues the problem of autonomy, showing how it has eroded over the years, and what must be done to restore it. Francis Egbokhare (chapter 8) takes up the grave shortfall of supply versus demand for quality university education in Nigeria. He traces the response to this demand to the foundation of new universities, especially private ones, and their extension by distance learning. At the same time, he shows the problems this educational explosion faces, and recommends solutions. Oyewo and Olawale (chapter 9), as mentioned above, discuss the use of Internet, as a partial solution to the problems Egbokhare raises. Afis Oladosu (chapter 10) surveys Islamic education, calling attention particularly to the informal sector, whereby students sought not an institution, but a noteworthy teacher. Part III: The Moral Dimension Jude Mbukanma (chapter 11) makes use of the Greek tradition to argue for moral education, consisting in formal courses, but more importantly in the attitude and example of the lecturers. Olatunji Oyeshile (chapter 12) examines the same issue, focusing on the situation of Nigerian universities, where a moral crisis is rampant at every level: students, lecturers and administrators. He likewise asks who should be responsible for moral education, observing that no one in the university is totally exempt from this responsibility. Chinyere Ukpokolo (chapter 13) examines the particular problem of sexual harassment, which constitutes a major manifestation of the moral crisis.