Lagos — The Federal Government's recent decision to convert six non-degree tertiary institutions into specialized universities is good news. The institutions include the Federal College of Education, Kano; Federal College of Education, Zaria; Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri; and Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo. They are now to be known as universities of education. Others are the Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, and Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, now designated as universities of technology.

According to the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa'i, certain formalities will have to be fulfilled, however, before the institutions can commence full activities under their new status. She said, while receiving the report of an implementation committee set up by the government for the purpose, that the FG's white paper on the matter would soon be released for formal consideration by the Federal Executive Council. After the necessary approvals have been given, the way will be open for the new universities to kick off their activities.

We welcome the decision to upgrade the six schools and also the deliberate process of their selection and preparation for their new roles. The move indicates the government's responsiveness to the intense yearning of the public for an expanded access to university education in the country. As Prof. Rufa'i herself explained, the government recognises that the present situation, whereby less than 15 percent of candidates seeking university admission are successful in any given year, is unacceptable. It is expected that the specialized universities of education and technology that are soon to come on stream will help to open the admission doors to several thousand candidates. The implications of the present constricted admission opportunities are far-reaching. Every year, hundreds of thousands of candidates, many of them qualified and with good scores in the matriculation examination, are rejected by the universities. At an average of about one million candidates each year, and given an admission rate of about 15 percent (to quote the minister), this translates to about 850,000 candidates to whom the university gates are shut annually. The spillover of this pool of applicants each year intensifies the level of desperation among the frustrated candidates, worsening incidents of malpractice in the examinations. Many applicants have finally given up, after countless unsuccessful attempts at gaining admission.

Needless to say, the consequences of breeding year after year large numbers of frustrated young persons, who are aspiring intellectuals and professionals, could be dire to the society. The acute security challenges the country currently faces, especially the disturbing crime statistics involving the youth, are partly traceable to the frustrating admission process in the universities.

In this light, it is heartening that the Education Minister also mentioned the FG's commitment to strengthening the capacity of the National Open University of Nigeria to grant more access to tertiary education to the public, through the distance-learning channel. There is need, however, to keep a firm rein on quality control while expanding admission opportunities in the university system. The choice of some of the oldest and best established colleges of education and polytechnics in the country for the take-off of the new policy on converting such institutions to universities speaks well of the government's awareness of the quality issues. More transparency is required, however, in this regard. The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie, who chairs the implementation committee handling the conversion process, told the minister, while presenting the committee's report, that the six institutions had met the stipulated guidelines. The public deserves to know what these guidelines are, and how each of the institutions scored on them.

Do the selected institutions have the required staff and equipment to handle teaching and research at degree level right away, or are there any deficits in some key areas that need to be addressed? Will they be autonomous from the start or initially be affiliated to some older universities? How will they combine their existing courses with the new ones without spreading teaching and administrative resources too thin? Will their present physical infrastructure cope with the new responsibilities? What about additional funding for these specialized universities? Can existing budget provisions accommodate their take-off cash needs? Details such as these should be worked out, clarified and the public properly enlightened.

We regard the upgrading of these institutions as the first phase of a continuing process, in the effort to ensure that intellectual capital development is liberalized, accelerated and intensified in the country. The ideal goal should be to create conditions that will enable every qualified Nigerian to develop his or her potential to the fullest, so as to contribute maximally to the country's development into an advanced economy in a democratic setting. To achieve this, Nigeria needs, for a start, hundreds of quality institutions offering world-class tertiary training to its citizens and foreign students. A carefully nurtured education sector, apart from providing the critical manpower for a knowledge-driven modern economy, can also attract substantial foreign exchange earnings into the country. The government, through the NUC, should encourage more tertiary institutions to qualify for conversion to degree-awarding status, with an uncompromising emphasis on high standards. We urge the NUC, however, to ensure that such institutions, including the new universities of education and universities of technology, are kept within the strict limits of their areas of core competence.

Source: http://allafrica.com