Evolution of private universities in Nigeria: Matters arising and the way forward

Abstract

Many issues such as the increasing cases of unsatisfied demand for admission, moral decadence among students, incessant strikes, student unrest and cultism, among others necessitated the establishment of private alongside the federal and state universities in Nigeria. It is however expected that the advent of private universities will provide solutions to these challenges. In this paper, issues such as the proliferation of private universities without proper planning, unemployment, religious intolerance, educational imbalance, high fees and others which if not addressed can undermine the achievement of the purposes for which they were established were examined. Adequate funding of the public universities, control of issuance of license for establishment of new private universities, creation of jobs by government and wealthy individuals, regulation of fees in the private universities among others are suggested to move the university system forward in the country.