‘149 private varsities only cater for 10% of students’ population’

The acting Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki, has disclosed that despite having 149 private universities, the institutions could only cater for about 10 per cent of the Nigerian university population. He lamented that of the over two million applicants, who yearly seek admission to tertiary institutions, only between 500,000 and 700,000 candidates are admitted.

Maiyaki stated this at a meeting with the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE), China, an affiliate institute linked with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), led by Prof. Jiansheng Liang.

The IIOE is a global collaborative initiative aimed at strengthening the teacher’s competency for higher education institutes in developing countries, and improving access to quality higher education resources.

Maiyaki said Nigeria currently has a total of 274 universities, comprising 62 federal, 63 states and 149 private universities. He, however, lamented that the country is facing the problem of access, as universities available could not meet the demands for university education.

Maiyaki stressed the need to address this gap, saying this informed their decision to license additional universities. He said the initiative was aimed at bolstering accessibility and meeting the escalating demands for tertiary education.

Maiyaki added that the developmental trajectory of these private institutions also require granting them time to mature and expand their capacity in order to effectively contribute to the educational landscape.

On the recent achievements of NUC, he highlighted the launch of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), which is a collaborative effort involving the academia and industry stakeholders.

Maiyaki recalled that the process commenced in 2018, and was finally launched in 2023, highlighting the importance of the curriculum in shaping the educational landscape.

He identified the roles of the commission in the Nigerian university system to include setting minimum academic standards, conduct of accreditation for academic programmes, resource verification for new programmes, inspection and monitoring of universities, formulating policies, and licensing private universities.

Liang said the major mission of IIOE is to cultivate highly skilled, and technically proficient talents, foster collaboration between Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and private sectors, as well as recruit and train masters in technical and pedagogical fields.