Strengthen secondary education to improve learning in varsities, says ex-VC

A former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (UI), Prof. Idowu Olayinka, has called on the government to strengthen education at the secondary school level to enhance the quality of learning in tertiary institutions.

Olayinka, who made the call in his lecture commemorating the one-year anniversary of Prof. Olanrewaju Olaniyan as Vice-Chancellor of Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, said the quality of input from secondary schools would go a long way in determining the performance of each university student.

In the lecture themed: “Benchmarking graduate output from Nigerian universities,” Olayinka also harped on the need to improve the welfare of teachers to enhance their productivity.

After a thorough analysis, the Professor of Geophysics submitted that in comparison to universities in the United Kingdom, degree classification in 12 selected Nigerian universities is lower.

Olayinka noted that in 12 Nigerian universities, the general trend in all the six public universities studied is that the majority of the students complete their first degree in the second-class lower category, while in most of the private universities, majority of the students finished in the second-class upper category.

Olayinka said: “Among the 12 Nigerian universities, the general trend in all the six public universities studied is that majority of the students complete their first degree in the second-class lower category, while in most of the private universities, the students finished in the Second Class upper category.

Responding, Olaniyan attributed his modest achievements in office to the support received from members of staff.