WEBOMETRIC RANKINGS AS INFORMER OF PUBLIC POLICY ON UNIVERSITY EDUCATION: SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR NIGERIA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH

Abstract

The role of universities as engines of national economic growth and development cannot be overemphasized. This has always strengthened the argument for greater involvement in public funding of higher education globally. Though arguments subsist over the inadequacy of public contributions to university education in Nigeria [4.98% of total budget in 2005; 9.64% in 2008 and 5.40% in 2010] and various allocations by Tertiary Education Trust Fund to the Nigerian universities, available statistical evidences of the differential webometric rankings of universities by Times Higher Education Supplement World Universities Rankings[THES], the Shanghai Jimo Tong Academic Rankings of World Universities[ ARWU],the QS World Universities Rankings[QSWUR] and Leiden Rankings which are global in nature and equally important high graduate unemployment rate phenomenon, do not give any credit to the public funding status of Nigeria’s binaried university system. We took a critical look at the rankings of Nigeria’s universities nationally, internationally and continentally against the backdrops of university goals, university rankings indicators and their relevance to economic growth and development. We observed that Nigeria’s universities have retrogressed at an increasing rate in their economic growth contribution using the economic growth models of Ricardo, Harrod- Domar, Neo-classical theory and Kaldor. We concluded that rather than discount the webometric indicators of the Shanghai rankings, Nigeria’s university administrators should think globally and act locally in order to maintain universities of internationally comparable quality. We recommended an emphasis on subject/ discipline ranking system for adoption by Nigerian governments as a barometer for increased funding of public universities in order to arrest graduate unemployment and boost university autonomy