Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has said that only great managers should be made vice chancellors and members of governing councils of universities.

He gave the advice yesterday, while delivering the second distinguished personality lecture of the Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, to mark the second anniversary of the tenure of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olanrewaju Olaniyan.

Olaopa, who spoke on the theme “Reforming the Reform of the Education Sector in Nigeria,” noted the challenges of transitioning from a college of education to a university, with the need to bring many professors on board, saying that it is in the midst of such challenges that vice chancellors and governing council members thrive.

He specifically lauded Olaniyan’s leadership, noting: “It is unlikely that this expansion will happen without a measure of disquiet and professional tension. It could also be a call to institute a new standard of assessment and the definition of what constitutes scholarly contributions and all that.

“If this and associated issues have been managed seamlessly without culture shocks for any of the parties, then kudos to Olaniyan and the entire management team.”

According to Olaopa, the importance of this historical account is to make the point that today there is a growing trend in high-performing world-class ranking universities appointing proven managers rather than solely academics as vice chancellors.

He said that this trend, which has gained traction globally today, had started playing out even in Nigeria way back in 1967 during the golden era of the public service and the university system in Nigeria.

“The expanding global shift to diversify the sourcing of university administrators beyond the university system and the fold of academics, is driven by increasing complexity of higher education management, and the need for strong leadership for frontier shifting in areas like fund-raising, strategic planning, expanding institutional partnerships, deepening of public private partnership and university-industry partnership for more sustainable funding to enable significant administrative and financial autonomy, and overall, institutional development, especially in the craving for quality, relevance, internationalisation, and global ranking”, he added.