• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Sciences, education, social sciences are preferred courses for Nigerian students

Postgraduates

Sciences, education and social sciences courses are the most preferred among candidates admitted to pursue degree programmes in Nigerian universities in the 2017 and 2018 academic sessions, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on JAMB applications for candidates.

Over 400,000 candidates were offered admission in each year.
Those who applied to study courses in Sciences, Education, Social Sciences and Engineering/Technology/Environmental Sciences accounted for close to 70 percent of those admitted in both 2017 and 2018.

Science-related courses were the most popular in either year but admissions for degrees in Engineering/Technology/Environmental Sciences increased the most by 45 percent while admissions into Social Sciences dropped the most by 32 percent.

Even though Nigerian students prefer science-related courses, experts argue that what they learn needs to be relevant.

Nigeria’s interventions in the university system have failed to deliver on their set objectives because they are often detached from the reality of the economy.

A well-articulated framework that creates critical alignment between industry and academia, experts say, can ensure effective transition from education to the labour market thereby contributing to solving critical skill shortfall and high unemployment in Nigeria.

Isaac Adeyemi, former vice chancellor, Bells University of Science and Technology, Otta, Ogun State, told BusinessDay that the ability of universities to offer programmes that are relevant to the needs of industries is much more important now given the globalisation trends in today’s world.

Adeyemi insists that such courses should as a matter of fact provide the necessary skills to the students to facilitate their eventual employment and boost their entrepreneurial skills.

Despite a drop in the number of male candidates admitted in 2017 and 2018, they (males) dominated admissions for Science, Social Science and Engineering/Technology/Environmental degrees.

Male candidates accounted for more than half the total of candidates admitted in 2017 and 2018. Nevertheless, the number of female candidates admitted to study

Medicine/Pharmacy/Health Sciences increased while the number of male students decreased.
Most female candidates, however, opted to take degrees in Education and Arts and Humanities.
The admission records show female candidates admitted into Education increased by 10 percent, from 43,515 in 2017 to 48,466 in 2018.

Aside from the top three, other courses listed in the university admissions data include Agriculture, Administration and Law.

Doyin Salami, an economist from Lagos Business School, at a recent university education stakeholders’ meeting said it was very important that the dynamics that establish and maintain course relevance be upheld.

“Universities in Nigeria must accept the challenge of remaining relevant to the environment in which they operate. There must be a mindset change in academia,” Salami said.

The NBS data, which include the number of candidates in each state, show that five states – Imo, Anambra, Osun, Oyo and Delta accounted for one-third of students admitted to study a degree course in 2018.

The data further show that in 2017, a total of 418,298 of candidates (both male and female) applied to study for one degree course or the other in the universities while in 2018 a total number of 422,245 candidates applied for same courses.

The data show less than one percent increase in the number of applications received by JAMB between 2017 and 2018 for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

Stakeholders from the university, industry and government, at the maiden stakeholders’ forum organised by Nigerian Economic Summit Group in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Lagos, stressed the importance of repositioning the education sector to deliver national outcomes and impact.

 

KELECHI EWUZIE