Some professors in the education sector have called for “true university autonomy” as one of the solutions to tackle the challenges facing higher education in Nigeria and other African countries.
According to a statement, yesterday, the experts made this known during an international symposium organised by the Okebukola Science Foundation in partnership with the National Universities Commission (NUC).
According to the statement, the experts agreed that African higher education was confronted with a host of grand challenges that must be tackled to ensure the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063.
“Over 160 higher education experts from 14 countries attended the virtual event organised by the Okebukola Science Foundation in partnership with the NUC Strategy Advisory Committee, the Africa Progress Group, the Office of the Association of African Universities’ Ambassador for West Africa, National Open University of Nigeria and the Virtual Institute for Capacity Building in Higher Education.
“Lead speakers at the symposium on the themed, “Grand Challenges Facing University Education in Africa: Taming the Dragon: were Professor Peter Okebukola (moderator); Professor Gibril Jaw, Executive Secretary, National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority of The Gambia; Professor Juma Shabani, Chairman, National Commission for Higher Education of Burundi; Professor Dr. Youhansen Eid, President, National Authority for Quality Assurance in Education of Egypt; Professor Emeritus Nimi Briggs, Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Federal Universities; Professor Elizabeth Sarange Abenga, Director of Pan African University Institute of Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences in Cameroon; Professor Olusola Oyewole, Secretary General, Association of African Universities and an Australian”, the statement partly reads.
Speaking further in the statement, it was noted that the experts identified 12 great challenges affecting quality delivery of university education in Africa.
“These are the absence of true university autonomy; depreciating quality of higher education teachers; research capacity deficit; use of outdated teaching method and slow adoption of Information and Communications Technology for delivering quality university education; capacity deficit of quality assurance agencies.
“Infrastructural/facilities inadequacies; management inefficiencies; poor quality of entrants into higher education from the secondary level; curriculum irrelevance- academic programmes not aligned to labour market needs; weak regional integration and language barriers; absence of an African Credit Transfer Scheme – hindering comparability of certificates and diplomas, mobility; and poor welfare scheme leading to low morale and low motivation of university staff.
“Significant attention was paid in the discussions to proffer solutions to these challenges. The speakers and participants agreed that the solutions rest with all stakeholders and not shifting the burden to the government alone. They agreed that parents, students, teachers and other staff in the university, university managers, regulatory agencies, the private sector, the media, development partners, community leaders, religious leaders, political elites and actors, indeed all beneficiaries of the products of the university system have roles to play in taming the dragon of the challenges.
“Specifically, the participants called for the granting of true autonomy to universities which is driven by the universities being less dependent on government for funding; strengthening teaching and research capacity of academic staff through the implementation of intensive and sustained training programmes like those offered by the VICBHE; improved resourcing of facilities for teaching and research to ensure that African universities shift from being glorified secondary schools to matching their counterparts in the developed world; improving the relevance of the curriculum (curriculum re-engineering) to enable it produce nationally and regionally-relevant and globally competitive graduates; improving the delivery of basic education so that entrants into universities are of better quality; political commitment to regional integration for south-south collaboration; development of an African Credit Transfer Scheme speedy establishment of the Pan African Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency and improvement in the welfare of university staff.”
The professors further stressed that there should be an increase in the sources of financial inflow into universities and that these should include the payment of tuition fees that were adjusted to the course of studies with bursaries and scholarships for indigent students.
“Furthermore, they urged that universities should be more proactive in exploring other avenues of securing funds that are open to higher educational institutions – grants, endowments, consultancies, research – and should reduce their over-dependence on government funding.
“Additionally, governments should hold universities to account to source for aspects of their funding requirements. Governments should allow university managements and governing councils to be totally responsible for the running of the affairs of universities, including hiring and firing of staff and the payment of differential salaries, where necessary, within clearly stipulated government guidelines.
“Public universities should be allowed to deploy their resources by themselves and as they deem fit to establish facilities for teaching, learning, research and innovation within their areas of interest, competence and specialisation.
“Lastly, participants were in agreement on the need to tighten the recruitment process, especially for the teaching staff so as to hire only bright and committed staff who should be appropriately remunerated to retain such staff and avoid brain drain”.