Improving the quality of tertiary education in Nigeria

Tertiary education is a critical element of human development, and it is essential to the growth and development of any country. A country’s ability to experience changes, surmount challenges, and keep up with the latest global developments across all sectors is derived mainly from its educated populace. However, for tertiary education to contribute meaningfully to the making of balanced and analytical citizens capable of leading governments as well as driving economies and industries, its quality has to be excellent and tertiary education in Nigeria is far from this.

In most countries of the world, enough premium is given to tertiary education in a bid to prepare students for global relevance and competitiveness. In Nigeria, although the tertiary education system has come a long way, there is still much to be done in terms of achieving the level of excellence required to produce trained individuals capable of driving national growth and development. This essay aims to examine the status quo of tertiary education systems in Nigeria, highlight core lessons from global standard practices, and recommend ways in which the quality of tertiary education in the country can be further improved.

CURRENT STATE OF THE NIGERIAN TERTIARY EDUCATION SYSTEM

The quality of tertiary education in Nigeria is disgracefully low. Nigerian graduates owing to this, are no match for their counterparts in other parts of the world. The sorry state of tertiary education in Nigeria is also responsible for the increase in its none-literate or school dropout population. The yearly drop out rate from across all universities in Nigeria is over 18%. All these costs the country dearly; first, it inspires a tremendous brain drain. The UNESCO institute of statistics states that the number of Nigerian students abroad has increased by 164% between 2005 – 2015. This educational mobility, as well as the lack of employability, takes a destructive toll on the country’s economy.

Read Also: Nigeria Government is not ripe enough to make education tuition free YABATECH Rector

In Nigeria, the tertiary education system consists of four branches, namely: universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of education. There are 170 universities, 132 polytechnics, 26 monotechnics, and 89 colleges of education. This brings the total number of tertiary institutions in Nigeria to about 417. This number of higher education institutions is not enough to cater for the population. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show that from 2010-2015, out of the ten million applicants that sought admission into tertiary institutions, only 26% were successful.

According to the JAMB, two-thirds of about two million applicants who sought access in 2019 were unsuccessful. Public tertiary institutions are finding it increasingly hard to cope with the admission pressure that seems to become more compelling each year. And while there is significant private sector participation in the Nigerian tertiary educational system, private schools are available to only a minority of the population as these private institutions are not quite affordable. Thus, average Nigerians are left to jostle for the limited number of slots available in the public universities. In comparison, the United States has over 3 000 tertiary institutions, France has over 3 500, and India has over 4 000.

Another problem facing the tertiary education system is the lack of proper funding. Statistically, Nigeria ranks amongst the lowest countries in terms of the budget allocated towards tertiary education. While most states give less than 15 percent of its yearly budget to education, only 6.7% of the Nation’s budget for the year 2020 was allocated to the ministry of education, a meagre portion of which will be further distributed to tertiary institutions. This is very low when compared to the United Nations’ suggestion of 27 percent.

The struggle between the government and the tertiary institution staff nationwide over funding has become a national reality. The system is built such that the public universities rely majorly on the government to fund the operation of the university and pay staff salaries. However, the poor state of national finances has left the government unable to fulfil its financial obligations towards tertiary institutions appropriately. Strikes and protests are an annual occurrence, and these mass actions often lead to a disruption in the school calendar. This lack of funding, in turn, leads to a lack of infrastructure. Laboratories in public universities are typically under equipped, lecture theatres in states of despair, hostels are unconducive and sometimes, a threat to the health of students, libraries are neither updated nor upgraded, there is no proper utilisation of ICT and the internet, etc.

Furthermore, there is no concrete framework for the training and retraining of tertiary institution staff. A lack of exposure to modern methods of teaching and training will ensure that the tertiary education process remains stuck in antiquity. This is bad for development because globally, countries make sure that their education systems evolve with the times. Such an evolution can only be done by members of staff who recognise the need to develop and appreciate it. In Nigeria, to a great extent, such a mentality is lacking among university staff. It is important to note that anyone who does not evolve via training and re-training to stay relevant in their field stands the risk of becoming obsolete and irrelevant in our fast-paced, ever-changing world.

Improving the quality of tertiary education in Nigeria

As the Nobel laureate, Betty Williams, rightly stated, “there is no use talking about the problem unless you talk about the solution.” Though the Nigerian tertiary education system may be faced with challenges, these challenges are not insurmountable. Foremost, it is pertinent to identify the stakeholders in the Nigerian Tertiary Education system. These stakeholders have the holistic responsibility to drive the desired change in the quality of tertiary education in Nigeria. Some steps can be taken to boost the quality of tertiary education in Nigeria, and they include:

Lawmakers and frameworks: The lawmakers in Nigeria are important stakeholders in improving the quality of its tertiary education. As a recommendation, a policy should be made that stipulates the compulsory increase of funds channeled towards tertiary education in Nigeria. This policy may also perform the advisory role of stating how the funds should be spent and enforcing it. Lawmakers in Nigeria can also mirror efficient foreign systems and adapt them for use; for instance, Exchange programs, which are a ”foreign investment” in the quality of local education, can be encouraged via a revisit of the National University Council framework.

Establishment of more tertiary institutions in the country: With one of the largest youth populations in the world, Nigeria requires more well-equipped tertiary institutions as the number of applicants seeking admission will only continue to increase annually. The establishment of more fully equipped tertiary institutions across all four types will reduce the number of out-of-school youths and help to improve the quality of tertiary education in Nigeria.

This might also mean that private participants are encouraged in the sector as capitalism might be the much needed saving grace. So far, privately-owned higher institutions have been faring well with Covenant University ranking highly internationally. The only caveat is for the NUC to raise and enforce a bar of requirements for establishing a new university by both private owners and the government. This is necessary because quantity is useless unless combined with quality.

Extensively more specialised and industry-focused tertiary institutions such as the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta needs to be created; this will go a long way in increasing the quality of the things taught in these fields.