The Crisis of Nigerian Universities: The Rot Starts from the Gate

“For years now, Nigerian university admissions have struggled to attract enough students to fill available spaces. In 2023, institutions were prepared for 1.6 million new students but only managed to admit around 630,000 students. That’s nearly one million spaces left unfilled, despite lowering admission cutoff marks to their lowest levels in history”.

Nigerian tertiary education faces several challenges, ranging from funding, recruitment and retention of staff, and the quality of students and graduates they produce, to government interference, corruption, and perennial industrial action. A critical issue that has been overlooked for a long time is the quality of the admission process in various institutions.

For years now, Nigerian university admissions have struggled to attract enough students to fill available spaces. In 2023, institutions were prepared for 1.6 million new students but only managed to admit around 630,000 students. That’s nearly one million spaces left unfilled, despite lowering admission cutoff marks to their lowest levels in history. This is a significant problem that requires strategic decision-making to solve. This article proposes several ideas to address this issue and the larger problem of improving our universities’ competitiveness.

The Pipeline Problem

The first solution takes us back to secondary schools. Our tertiary institutions face a candidate pipeline problem that needs fixing. Secondary schools nationwide are producing school leavers who aspire to university but can’t manage 200 or more in the UTME. In 2023, only 23% of candidates scored 200 and above.

Without addressing the pipeline issue, Nigerian university admissions will continue to see ill-prepared students with undoubtedly poor UTME performance filling the ever-increasing vacancies on campuses. The new cutoff for universities is 120 out of 400 marks, while for polytechnics and colleges of education, it is a mere 100. In 2023, 64% of candidates admitted scored below 200. We are now in an era where the vast majority of freshers couldn’t score 50% in the entrance exam.

The federal government has limited power to force states to reform and improve their secondary schools. Our advocacy must go to state governments. State governments must urgently invest in these schools to ensure that school leavers are better prepared not only for tertiary education but for life generally. The federal government can assist with policy direction and targeted funding.

The federal government is not entirely powerless here. By banning anyone with less than 200 marks in UTME from gaining admission into federal institutions, the federal government could compel states and parents to act if they want their students to attend federal schools, which are often the most coveted and most affordable.

Simplify the Admission Process

The admission process, particularly for federal universities, is overly complicated. Firstly, the post-UTME examination should be abolished, as UTME has become the most transparent and malpractice-free exam in the country. Instead, schools should use a combination of O-level grades and UTME scores to rank candidates, a method already adopted by many institutions. By eliminating post-UTME, the process can be streamlined.

Secondly, federal universities must balance merit with considerations for Nigeria’s diversity and federal character (and administrators’ discretion). Policies prioritize catchment areas and Educationally Less Developed States (ELDS), among others. This discretion sometimes leads to overlooking highly qualified candidates in favor of less talented but favored candidates.

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While catchment areas and ELDS should not be entirely removed, the federal government should ensure transparency in the process. The influence of ELDS and catchment areas should be limited. Considerations for ELDS and other inclusion ideas should be capped at a low advantage, preventing an ELDS candidate with a lower score from being selected over a non-ELDS candidate with a higher score. This will reduce sentiments and nepotism in the admission process and bring more fairness.

The admission process should be entirely transparent, allowing all candidates to know why they haven’t been admitted and what they can do differently next time. The current approach of candidates petitioning JAMB for answers could be eliminated with radical transparency.

Redistribute Resources

JAMB attributes the high rate of non-admission among high-performing students to rigidity in program choice, a mismatch of demand and supply, a lack of interest in existing vacancies in NCE, education, agriculture, and basic sciences, and trial candidates without O-level results.

While some suggest brilliant candidates who struggle to get admission to their desired courses in their desired schools should look for other courses or schools, I disagree with pushing students into studying courses they do not want to study.

It should now be clear to policymakers where the demands are in our tertiary education. Candidates year after year have shown a preference for universities over colleges of education and for courses like medicine, law, engineering, and nursing over less-demanded ones.

Governments should start moving resources from universities and courses with decreasing demand to those with increasing demand. The courses these students demand are useful and should be encouraged. Nigeria needs more doctors, and foreign countries have high demands for Nigerian doctors.

Based on available data, it is advisable to close down public colleges of education or turn them into faculties of education within nearby public universities. Departments not attracting qualified students should be closed instead of pushing candidates into them. The money saved from this rationalization project should be invested in expanding facilities in popular departments with brilliant candidates.

Let Schools Nigerian Universities Money Properly

To address the chronic underfunding of Nigerian universities, it is crucial to grant them autonomy to generate their own revenue through competitive tuition fees. The current system, where universities charge minimal fees for ancillary services—often less than a month’s minimum wage—has significantly hampered their ability to function effectively. Government funding alone is insufficient to support university operations in the 21st century.

Contrary to popular belief, the Nigerian university system began with a fee-paying system. For instance, in 1957, medical school fees at the University of Ibadan were £130 per annum, roughly three times the country’s GDP per capita. In stark contrast, today’s medical students in public universities often pay less than ₦200,000, amounting to less than 5% of the GDP per capita. This drastic reduction in relative fee levels highlights the unsustainable nature of the current funding model.

Universities need funds. They cannot rely solely on government funding that can barely pay salaries. Tuition fees allow universities to raise more funds than the government can provide. Critics might argue that increasing tuition fees would deny access to higher education for poor students. However, this concern can be mitigated through a robust merit-based scholarship scheme.

Merit-Based Scholarships Instead of Mass Scholarships

As universities are permitted to charge appropriate tuition fees, the federal government would redirect its budget allocations toward scholarships and student loan programs.

The scholarship component would guarantee funding for students who achieve aggregate high scores in both the UTME and O-level exams (e.g., 70% aggregate). Concurrently, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund would receive a portion of the current university budget to offer non-interest student loans to students with average scores (50% and above) in both UTME and O-levels. Both the loans and scholarships would be contingent on maintaining academic performance standards throughout the students’ university education.

This approach ensures that universities are financially self-sufficient and motivated to attract the best students, who, in turn, contribute to their revenue. The revenue generated from tuition fees can then be reinvested into improving the standards of education, facilities, and research within the universities. By shifting from a government-dependent model to a self-sustaining one, universities will operate with greater efficiency and accountability, no longer functioning as mere extensions of government departments. This transformation will foster a more competitive and high-quality tertiary education system in Nigeria.

Funding Research with TETFUND

Tertiary education, particularly in universities, encompasses much more than just teaching; research is a vital component that drives innovation and development. Unfortunately, this aspect has been significantly neglected in Nigeria, with academics often left to self-fund their research projects. To address this issue, my final recommendation involves restructuring the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to prioritize research funding.

For decades now, TETFUND has primarily focused on constructing buildings and infrastructure within educational institutions. While infrastructure is important, the evolving landscape of Nigerian universities calls for a reallocation of these resources. As universities gain financial independence, TETFUND can redirect its efforts toward supporting research in public universities and polytechnics.

Research is the backbone of higher education, fostering advancements that can address both national and global challenges. By channeling funds into research initiatives, TETFUND can help transform Nigerian universities into centers of excellence. This shift will not only enhance the quality of education but also elevate the reputation of Nigerian institutions on the global stage.

Funding research through TETFUND will provide academics with the necessary resources to pursue innovative projects without the burden of self-funding. It will also encourage a culture of rigorous scientific inquiry and collaboration among Nigerian scholars. Furthermore, a focus on research will attract international partnerships, further boosting the intellectual and economic contributions of Nigerian universities.