Making Nigerian varsities globally competitive, relevant

The dwindling fortunes of Nigeria in the global ranking of higher institutions exposed how the country has failed, in its education system, to lead the continent. Stakeholders argued that real and sustained investment in the sub-sector, as well as improved teaching quality will help the country regain its competitive edge, IYABO LAWAL reports.

Nigerian universities have not fared well in global ranking over the years largely because they don’t have what it takes to compete with foreign universities in terms of funding, infrastructure, manpower, and ability to attract foreign students.

Every year, the Times Higher Education (THE) releases its ranking of the best universities in the world. The organisation, which started in 2010, examined this year, the results of more than 1,900 institutions in 104 countries and regions worldwide.

The World University Rankings stand as premier global benchmarks, evaluating research-intensive universities across key pillars-teaching, research environment, research quality, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.

The evaluation exercise assessed the institutions in their core missions of teaching, research and community service. With a troubled education system bedevilled by incessant strike actions, obsolete library materials, ill-equipped laboratories, dilapidated structures and dearth of qualified teachers, stakeholders noted that producing globally competitive graduates may be a mirage.

Analysis of the latest THE ranking showed that Covenant University (CU) is among the top 1,000 universities in the world. The University of Ibadan (UI) followed as second-best institution in the country, while FUTA clinched third.

Other institutions that achieved the top ranking in Nigeria include University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN); University of Lagos (UNILAG); Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD); University of Benin (UNIBEN); Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB); Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso; Lagos State University (LASU); Nnamdi Azikiwe University(NAU), Awka; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, and University of Port Harcourt.

A total of 39 Nigerian universities made the list, while the University of Oxford maintained its position at the top of the table for the eighth consecutive year.

On the African continent, no Nigerian university made the top 10 category. South Africa dominated it with eight, while Egypt and Ghana have one each. The comprehensive analysis for the 2024 ranking considered over 134 million citations from 16.5 million research publications, along with feedback from 68,402 scholars worldwide.

The poor performance of Nigeria in the global ranking of universities has generated concerns from stakeholders, who blamed the government and institutions for the development.

They identified the challenges to include poor funding, inadequate facilities for learning and research, as well as poor regulation. Education is among the least considered sectors in Nigeria in terms of budgetary allocation. Despite its strategic place in national development, and the recommendation by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO) to developing countries to allocate at least 26 per cent of their yearly budgets to education, successive governments in Nigeria have failed to do so.

On the average, less than nine per cent of federal budgets have been allocated to education since the inception of the Fourth Republic. In 1999, education was given 11.12 per cent of the federal budget; 2000, it reduced to 8.36 per cent; reduced further to 7.1 per cent in 2001; 5.9 per cent in 2002; and 1.83 per cent in 2003. In 2004, education got 10.5 per cent; it took 9.3 per cent in 2005; 11 per cent in 2006; 8.09 per cent in 2007; 13 per cent in 2008; 6.54 per cent in 2009; and 6.4 per cent in 2010. In 2011, 1.69 per cent was allocated to the sector; 10 per cent were allocated in 2012; 8.7 per cent in 2013; 10.6 per cent in 2014; and 9.5 per cent in 2015.

In 2016, education got 7.9 per cent of the budget. This was reduced to 6.1 per cent in 2017 before it was increased to 7.1 per cent in 2018. Allocation to the sector nosedived to 6.5 per cent in 2020, while it got 5.7 and 5.4 per cent in 2021 and 2022 respectively. In 2023, it got 8.2 per cent, while in 2024, it got 6.39 per cent.

Amid poor capacity to attract education grants, these paltry allocations are expected to cater for 52 federal universities, 40 federal polytechnics, 27 federal colleges of education, and 104 unity colleges.

The same story of poor budgetary allocation to education is applicable in most of the states. Data from the National Universities Commission (NUC) showed that the over 200 universities in the country only have about 35 per cent of the required number of teachers for effective teaching and learning.

Besides, a good number of those who teach in government institutions are the same teachers that private universities rely on through part-time arrangements.
This notwithstanding, the Federal and state Governments are still building new universities, and granting approvals for new institutions.

Stakeholders were, however, divided on the objectivity or otherwise of the rankings. While some said it promotes healthy competition among the institutions, others argued that ranking puts undue pressure on universities.

They identified factors such as poor funding, proliferation of universities, inadequate manpower and facilities, as some of the problems responsible for lack of competitiveness among the country’s universities.

“One of the greatest factors working against the ranking of Nigerian universities is that too many were established by government, or private entities driven by vanity rather than vision and planning for proper university education.

“There is also a significant deficit in staffing, facilities and work/learning environment. Lecturers are badly treated in terms of remuneration and respect by the government and society, but overworked at the same time. “How can they give the best when they earn such poor wages and have to do other things just to make ends meet? What time do they have to conduct cutting-edge research, produce quality publications, supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students, mentor younger colleagues, and participate in international networks and conferences with such distractions and disabilities, unlike their counterparts elsewhere?”

A Professor of History and Pro-Chancellor of Chrisland University, Prof Ayodeji Olukoju, said getting Nigerian universities into the ranks of Africa’s best requires adequate funding, strategic planning and commitment to maintaining standards.

He advised the Federal Government to set aside five federal universities as flagship for support over a specific period, Olukoju stated that such universities should streamline their systems to attract and retain the best scholars and researchers in the country, while also attracting their foreign-based counterparts to enrich the pool of expertise through short-term visits, or to engage them in online teaching. “Specific programmes in these flagship universities possessing a certain critical mass of internationally recognised scholars and researchers should also be developed as flagship programmes. Such clusters of dedicated high fliers across faculties and departments will boost the ranking of those institutions,” Olukoju said.

He added that the leadership of designated universities should be selected purely on merit and not based on ethnic, religious or political sentiments. Olukoju reminded that no university can actualise its full potential when its leadership is a product of patronage politics influenced by internal and external politicians.

He said: “Nigerian universities cannot attract foreign students and staff if our campuses are not attractive, facilities are poor, institutions are not well funded, and staff go on strike, invariably disrupting academic calendar.”

On his part, former Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof Idowu Olayinka, said to make the nation’s universities more competitive, government must increase its level of funding to the institutions, make admissions purely merit-based, and prioritise staff welfare, including remuneration and provision of facilities for teaching, learning and quality research.

“Government must allow the universities to govern themselves using the template known to law, Olayinka said, warning that a situation where the Federal Ministry of Education is surreptitiously usurping the role of Governing Councils of federal universities is an invitation to chaos and anarchy, which can reduce the universities to glorified secondary schools.

In the same vein, erudite scholar and former Vice Chancellor of the Bells University, Ota, Prof Adebayo Adeyemi, said improved remunerations not only attract brilliant students, it retains existing staff and reduces exodus of lecturers abroad.

He also canvassed improvement in infrastructural facilities, including students’ hostels, lecture halls, offices, in designated facilities for teaching and research; provision of well-equipped, functional and modern laboratories.

But a Professor of Geography at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Usman Haruna, said while rankings are used to attract students and talented researchers, assess research proficiency and review institutional strategy, they have led universities to over-invest in those metrics that might boost their ranking scores, such as a few multi-institution projects that, until this year, have contributed disproportionately to success in the THE World University Rankings.

He said: “The well-known rankings are often subject to methodological changes that can harm institutions, heaping undeserved blame or praise on university administrators.

“Even if there is no publicly declared methodological change, puzzling fluctuations can be produced by recalibration, re-centring, procedural tweaking and the influx of new institutions. Quite a few careers have come to grief after an inexplicable collapse in ranking scores, while some universities have risen to undeserved, and sometimes, temporary prominence with the help of performance in one or more of the big-league tables,” Haruna stated.