Private universities contribute to the same national human capital development objectives as public institutions and should therefore attract greater government support than they currently receive, the Vice-Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja, Prof. Abiodun Adeniyi, has said.

Prof. Adeniyi noted that private institutions face enormous financial demands in providing quality education, developing infrastructure, recruiting qualified personnel and meeting regulatory requirements.

Making the call yesterday when the members of the executive committee of Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria (ECAN) visited the varsity in Abuja, he described as misplaced the perception that private universities are primarily profit-making ventures.

Citing the cost of hiring staff, buying facilities, providing utilities and executing huge capital-intensive projects, he stressed that the cost of running quality academic programmes and sustaining modern facilities was increasingly high.

The vice-chancellor noted that graduates of private universities ultimately join the same workforce as their counterparts from public institutions and contribute to the development of the economy.

Therefore, commending the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for the initiatives aimed at extending some research opportunities to private universities, Adeniyi stated that as citizens of this country, they do not mind if TETFund supports the private varsities.

However, he urged the government to expand such interventions, saying that increased support would enable private universities to strengthen their research capacity, improve infrastructure and sustain the delivery of quality education.

He also highlighted Baze University’s strategic location in the Federal Capital Territory as having made it accessible to students from different parts of Nigeria.

Adeniyi added that the institution had deliberately invested in creating a serene and conducive learning environment while keeping its fees competitive, despite receiving no direct government allocation.

Meanwhile, to further strengthen the institution’s academic standards, the vice-chancellor said Baze University recruits scholars from different parts of the world and plans to introduce foreign external examiners to assess the work of its faculties and make recommendations based on global best practices.