Achieving Equality of Educational Opportunity on Access to University Education in Nigeria : A Case of Policy Implementation

The study examines the effective pragmatic strategies to funding public universities education in Nigeria and its’ benefits to the society. The paper discussed the overview of funding of University Education in Nigeria and the budgetary allocated to Nigerian’ educational sector from 2013 to 2022. The paper discussed the Strategies of funding Universities Education in Nigeria which are included; endowment funds, launching/appeal funds, awarding of honorary degrees, undertake researches, contracts and constantly services, undertaking part-time, remedial and long-vacation programs, alumni association, private contributors, contribution by parents/teachers’ association, reviving of governmental organization responsible of funding universities education among others. And also, the paper highlighted the impact of universities to the community. The paper concluded that; there are some avenues and strategies that universities can be used to add as sources of their funding in running of their day to day activities without totally depending of government allocation, there would be no any public or private universities that can be survive without fully funded to run their affairs smoothly in Nigeria and lastly Universities education in Nigeria were neglected by Federal Republic of Nigeria considering the priority and little amount of budgetary allocated to educational sector in Nigeria. The paper made some recommendations which are included; public universities should be granted autonomy, government should prioritize education than any other sector in Nigeria, awakening of educational philanthropists to the supporting of universities in Nigeria, and intervening of legislative members in public universities education in Nigeria among others.

The object of the research is anchored on the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the opposition by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the implication of the dispute on the development of university education in Nigeria. The main objectives of the study were to determine the major motives and examine the suitability of IPPIS for the development of university education in Nigeria. The paper employs the equity theory of motivation to explain how Nigeria's payment system affects effective service delivery in the entire university education system. The study was based on secondary sources from existing literature. The findings of the paper show IPPIS was primarily introduced by the federal government to curb corruption in the university system. The paper also revealed that IPPIS does not capture the peculiarities of university lecturers. The study concluded that IPPIS will contribute to the development of university education in Nigeria if it can accommodate the peculiarities of academic staff. The paper recommended that the Federal Government of Nigeria and Academic Staff Union of Universities engage in dialogue to harmonize the payment system for the overall interest of university education in Nigeria. And the Federal Government of Nigeria should show some level of sincerity in the testing of UTAS (University Transparency and Accountability Solution), the alternative payment platform provided by ASUU to build confidence among disputing members. This will also encourage the development of local content.

Suitability, challenges and way forward for university accounting education in Nigeria

The paper examines the role of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in the management of University education in Nigeria. A brief history of University education in Nigeria as well as the creation of TETFund was examined. Also the paper was guided with the use the Management by Objectives theory developed by Drucker in 1954. Emphases were laid on the basic functions of TETFund such as that of project facilitation, funding and staff development. The challenges confronting TETFund and ways of improving TETFund’s relevance in Universities in Nigeria were also discussed. It was concluded that if well co-ordinated, TETFund can help to boost the structure of University education in Nigeria. It was therefore recommended that various private organizations should contribute to the empowerment of TETFund and appropriate legislations should be made to assist the agency carry out its activities effectively.Keywords: Management, Staff Training, Tertiary, Education, Funding

Education is a fulcrum for achieving progress in all aspects of human life. This is in consonance with the 1998 World Conference on Education Commitment that higher education should be geared towards development and progress. Therefore, it is expected that higher education is equally accessible to all, all persons seeking higher education have optimal range of choice and participation of women in higher education should be emphasized. This paper, therefore, examine the meaning of gender inequality, access and equity, as well as the rationale to ensure gender equitable access in university education in Nigeria. Also, the paper highlights the trends in male and female enrolment in university education and the factors that give rise to gender inequality in equitable access to university education in Nigeria. Finally, the paper examines measures to enhance gender equitable access to university education in Nigeria. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n7p129

Private university education is unarguably one of the growing trends in the education system in the world. Providing university education to citizens should not be the solitary efforts of government, but should be the responsibility of adults at all levels. The giant stride of private investment in the acceleration of university education in Nigeria is overwhelming. This paper examines the private university's contribution to the development of university education in Nigeria, focusing on the strengths, weaknesses and way forward. Basically, the purpose of the study is to highlight the areas where private universities had contributed to the advancement of university education. It carefully looked at the historical background, rationale and antagonists of private universities. Also, the paper examined the global trends of private universities. Methodologically, mixed methods approach was used for the study. Quantitatively, secondary data were collected and analyzed to establish the areas in which private universities contributes to the development of higher education in Nigeria. Qualitatively, interviews were conducted in two private universities, where teaching and non-teaching staff of the universities granted the interview. NVivo Software was used to do the transcription, coding and analysis of the interview. Findings from the two methods employed revealed that the importance of private universities cannot be under-estimated, it is akin to the advancement of university education in Nigeria. Conclusively, the activities of private universities would continue to play a positive role in ensuring that Nigerian university education is placed among the developed countries. Significantly, the study would assist private universities on how to improve their efforts for a better private university education so as to ensure quality service. Also, government should endeavour to assist private universities in the area of staff capacity building and infrastructure. Lastly, enabling environment should be provided by the government for more private investors to establish more universities in Nigeria.

Trends in the development of university education in Nigeria revealed limited efforts by both the missionaries and the colonial authority that pioneered modern education in Nigeria. However, since independence; there has been a gradual increase in the number of universities, their programmes and spread, as a result of the establishment of state, federal and privately owned universities. The objective of this study is to chronicle how we have come to where we are in the development of University education in Nigeria, bothering on the issues of quantity and quality outcomes. Historical research design was adopted with both primary and secondary sources of data and largely depended on documentary analysis. The findings showed that quantitatively, universities are growing rapidly, even becoming a regular attribute under successive governments. While this expansion is commendable, the attainment of quality and production of adequate manpower in critical facets of the nation’s need is less desirable, in fact, has not been achieved. Findings further revealed that the astronomical increase of these institutions in the twenty-first century is not spared of inadequacies in staff needs, state of the art facilities and equipment, staff and students’ welfare and other challenges; including drop in quality of graduates churned out, unemployment after school, poor funding, lecturers’ agitations, indiscriminate proliferation of universities, brain drain, capital flight etc. It is therefore recommended that a positive political will is needed to change the inadequacies in the system for quality university education, in consonance with global best practices. Keywords: Trends, Development, University Education, Colonial and Post-Colonial Perspectives.

This paper will examine the issue of debates sounding gender equity in access to higher education specifically focused on female enrolment in university education in Nigeria, with specific attention to northern Nigeria region with one of the universities in the north as a case. While it was clearly stated in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria that stipulated equal educational opportunities in respect of gender, currently, there is unequal enrolment between boys and girls in access to universities in the location where the study under was selected and its catchment areas compared with the other parts of the country. To gain an insight into this matter of contention, this case study employed a semi-structured in-depth interview to seek the views of the policymakers' and policy implementers' regarding the issues surrounding this impediment challenge. Furthermore, the paper employed document analyses to review policy documents and statistics of applicants wishing to secure admission into Nigerian universities. This study has shown that there are many problems attributed to this phenomenon including, among others, social upbringing, cultural orientation and social-economic status. In response, the study strongly recommends strategies to encourage female participation including compulsory female education in Nigeria at the basic level to improve their access to university education.

Just about two years after Nigeria’s independence, the National University Commission (NUC) was established as an advisory agency on higher education in the cabinet office of the First Republic of Nigeria. The NUC was charged with the responsibility of advising government on financial needs of the universities and to handle the planning of a balanced and coordinated development of university education in Nigeria. These functions were further expanded with the enactment of Decree No. 1 of 1974 that transformed NUC from advisory capacity to a statutory body. This was an outcome of the centralization of university education in the country, during which the Federal Government took over all the then existing regional universities in the country. The expansion of university education in Nigeria reached its nadir in recent time with the efforts by governments, the private sector and faith based organizations establishing new universities and expanding the existing ones. This development brought with it enormous responsibilities and challenges. How the NUC has been able to cope with its new status and its responsibilities is the prime focus of this paper. The paper examines the Nigerian University system before the formation of NUC. It discusses the establishment and role of NUC and evaluates its impact on university education in the country. The paper highlights the challenges that have constrained the operations of the Commission. It concludes by suggesting recommendations that might be of help to overcome the identified challenges and further enhance the development of university education in Nigeria.

The main thrust of this paper is to historicize the involvement of the private sector in the development of university education in Nigeria in the Fourth Republic. While the year 1999, marked the commencement of the birth of the second batch of private universities in Nigeria, the year 2021 was when the last batch of private universities were granted provisional licenses of operation by the Federal Government. History of educational development in Nigeria has its origin in the activities of the private sectors, that is, the Christian missions. Their involvement in the development of western education in the country between the late 19th and 20th centuries was mainly confined to the provision of primary and secondary education. Up to the birth of the Fourth Republic in 1999, the provision of university education in the country was exclusively the responsibility of both the Federal and the State governments. Although an attempt was made during the Second Republic, 1979-1983, to encourage private sector participation, this eventually failed. However, with the return to civil rule in 1999, the country witnessed the emergence of the second attempt towards private sector involvement in the development of university education. The paper argues that the active involvement of the non-state actors in the delivery of university education in Nigeria since 1999 has helped in improving efficiency in delivery, expanding service coverage as well as increasing manpower production. The methodology adopted for this work is historical, qualitative and quantitative, utilizing materials from both primary and secondary sources.

A well-liked method for enhancing access to quality university education in Nigeria is the Smart Learning Environment (SLE). Traditional classroom environments are no longer able to meet the needs of the expanding student body due to the rising demand for university education. Technology-assisted, individualized, and flexible scheduling are all features of SLE’s novel approach to education. The potential of SLE to offer Nigerian students a quality education is examined in this research, with an emphasis on the benefits, strategies, challenges, and probable solutions to the challenges. However, for the SLE deployment to be effective, ample infrastructure, sufficient training, and cooperation from all stakeholders are necessary. The paper suggests that SLE is an effective way to improve access to university education in Nigeria.

Various societies of the world have evolved various forms of education over time. Formal education has been accepted over time as being capable of enhancing unprecedented growth in societies. Considering the importance of education to the integral development of various nations, huge resources have always been channeled to boost the educational sector by various nations. In Nigeria, for instance, the educational sector is considered as one of the most essential sectors of the yearly budgetary schedule. Looking at the various levels of education, it is true to state that the university education is most suited towards providing the socio-economic development that Nigeria yearns for. This is because it has been discovered that it is the development of the human person that invariably trickles to the development of other sectors of the socio-economic system. An efficient university educational system could be considered as one of the best assets a nation can have. And against this backdrop, one could rightly assert that a dysfunctional university system would surely make for a malfunctional country. This is why this paper has as its thrust to xray the university education in Nigeria, bringing to bare its history, evolution, successes and weaknesses. The paper challenges that even though the nation’s university education has achieved quite much, it is equally laden with weaknesses. If the future of university education in Nigeria is to be revamped, then the author has made functional suggestions herein to make for the amelioration of the university education system in Nigeria.

Just about two years after Nigeria’s independence, the National University Commission (NUC) was established as an advisory agency on higher education in the cabinet office of the First Republic of Nigeria. The NUC was charged with the responsibility of advising government on financial needs of the universities and to handle the planning of a balanced and coordinated development of university education in Nigeria. These functions were further expanded with the enactment of Decree No. 1 of 1974 that transformed NUC from advisory capacity to a statutory body. This was an outcome of the centralization of university education in the country, during which the Federal Government took over all the then existing regional universities in the country. The expansion of university education in Nigeria reached its nadir in recent time with the efforts by governments, the private sector and faith based organizations establishing new universities and expanding the existing ones. This development brought with it enormous responsibilities and challenges. How the NUC has been able to cope with its new status and its responsibilities is the prime focus of this paper. The paper examines the Nigerian University system before the formation of NUC. It discusses the establishment and role of NUC and evaluates its impact on university education in the country. The paper highlights the challenges that have constrained the operations of the Commission. It concludes by suggesting recommendations that might be of help to overcome the identified challenges and further enhance the development of university education in Nigeria.

This study investigated the massification of university education in Nigeria as a result of the reforms in the education subsector that led to private participation in the provision of university education from 1999. The question of the study hinges on the percentage of access and if the increased number of universities has led to increased access. Using a checklist based on the objectives of university education and some policies of the Nigerian government such as sixty percent admission for science and technological based courses and forty percent for art and humanity based courses, the massification was examined in view of meeting the manpower needed for technological development of Nigeria. Suggestions were proffered on the inherent challenges of the massification of university education in Nigeria.

University education plays a crucial role in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda launched by the United Nations Organization (UNO) in the year 2015. In the light of the quality university education in Nigeria, this paper assesses the effect of quality university education on the attainment of SDGs, which are meant to be achieved by the year 2030. Relying on secondary data through the adoption of system theory, the paper discusses the state of university education in Nigeria, its effect on national development as well as on the realization of the SDGs. The paper found that there is poor delivery of quality university education with proclivity to global low ranking. The paper amongst others suggest for increase in regional and global partnership on university education to boost scholarship, Information and Communication (ICT) application and curriculum development which are imperative in attaining high standard of excellence in university education. DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-23-02 Publication date : August 31 st 2019