Determinants of Enrolment in Nigerian Universities

KWASU International Journal of Education (KIJE), 2023

This study was carried out to ascertain if astronomical increase in number of universities is a curse or a blessing to Nigeria. Two research questions and three hypotheses were raised as guide to the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey method of the ex post facto research design. The population comprised all 7 federal and 9 state owned universities and stakeholders in the six states making up the South South geo-political zone of the country. The sample comprised 240 respondents (120 from federal and 120 from state universities) randomly drawn from 6 (3 federal and 3 state) universities out of the total of 16 public universities on ground as at 2019. Data was collected with a self-developed questionnaire titled, "Astronomical Increase in Number of Public Universities Questionnaire (AINPUQ)" which was validated and subjected to reliability test using Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics that yielded a coefficient of 0.70. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean ratings and standard deviation) for the research questions and inferential statistics (t-test) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings established amongst others that there were both positive and negative implications of astronomical increase in number of universities with those who believed that it is a blessing claiming that it opened up access to more admission places for the teaming youths; while those who believed that it is a curse claimed that quality education has been sacrificed on the altar of quantity. The study concluded that astronomical increase in universities in Nigeria has both positive and adverse effects on every stakeholder of the education sector. The study recommended amongst others that increase in universities should attract a corresponding increase in budgetary allocation to education; that government should make adequate provisions for existing universities before embarking on establishment of new ones and that ASUU"s demand for revitalization of Nigerian universities should be favourably considered.

Raji, I.A., 2010

The problem of low access to university education (i.e. proportion of applicants that are admitted) in Nigeria has been since the 19 th century. Through various constitutional reforms and the creation of new states more universities were established in Nigeria. With only one university at independence in 1960, there were 12 universities (all federal institutions in 1975). The number of universities in Nigeria rose from 46 (federal, state and private institutions) in 2001 to 95 in 2007. This study was carried out to investigate the difference in access to undergraduate programmes in Nigeria universities from 2002 to 2007. The correlational research design was adopted for this study. Six year data (from 2002-2007) was collected for each of the nine faculties that were recognised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) for undergraduate programmes. The data collected and used include the number of applicants for admission by state of origin and discipline/faculty, and the number of candidates admitted to undergraduate programmes by state of origin and faculty. Four hypotheses were tested using F-ratio statistic and regression analysis at 5% level of significance. All the hypotheses were found to be statistically insignificant. Establishment of more universities did not considerably improve access to undergraduate programmes in Nigeria universities. In the efforts to increase access to undergraduate programmes providers of university education may consider the expansion of facilities in the existing institutions as a viable alternative to the establishment of new institutions.

2018

The paper looks at higher education in Nigeria which encompasses a range of about 128 institutions, and it is largely provided by both public and private sector. The impact of these higher education institutions has not keep abreast with development in the labor market. The system has suffered a lot from limited accessibility, low quality, and relevance and inadequate resources to meet emerging challenges. The funding of higher education institutions in Nigeria during the last 54 years of its existence as a sovereign nation suggests that there exists a chronic under-funding of the system, both at the public and the private level. The constant demand of the citizenry of the country to have access to higher education also continues to create more pressure to expand the capacity of higher education in Nigeria. In the context of high or proportionate of population growth in Nigeria in which the majority are youth, the present number of higher education institutions is rather small to provide equitable access to higher education institutions in Nigeria. The serious issue of inadequate financing of the higher education institutions in Nigeria and the proclivity to make adequate expansion is chanced upon with several challenges as identified in the main text of this paper.

Modelling Nigerian University System for Effective Learning and Global Relevance Past, Present and Future - Published by University of Calabar Nigeria, 2008

The monograph discussed management approaches to investment in education, ideological positions on university production management, colonial approaches to postsecondary education in Nigeria (eras of training school, Yaba Higher College, University College Ibadan, College of Art, Science and Technology), development in Nigerian universities before the independence (the Harbison's estimates of Nigerian manpower needs and Ashby Commission), manpower management in the eras of public ownership and public-private partnership, university management in democratilsing Nigeria, the present state of the Nigerian University system and finally, a model was proposed to manage the university system in a knowledge based Nigeria.

Higher education in Nigeria is critically constrained with financing resulting in low quality. The key research issue of the present study is to examine financing of higher education in Nigeria paying particular attention to access, quality of graduate output, and internal and external efficiency of the system. The main objective of the paper is to critically examine the adequacy and sources of funding of higher education in Nigeria based on a standard criteria as well as comparing the unit cost of graduate production across the higher education institutions. The study is based on secondary data. A cross sectional sample survey representing 76 faculties selected through a stratified sampling method to represent the three institutional structures of the higher education system in Nigeria was used. In addition to descriptive statistics used a simple linear regression analysis was also implore. The results indicates a low investment to education, also there exist a funding gap in the system. Even for the same type of institution unit cost vary enormously between HEIs. In general the unit cost of higher education in Nigeria is low in comparison to other African countries. In the light of the above findings Nigeria authority require critical revisiting of the current policy of financing higher education

Proceedings of Roundtable on Legislative Agenda for Tertiary Education in Nigeria, 2016

Bulgarian Journal of Science and Education Policy, 2012

The year 1948 marked the start of university education in the University College, Ibadan, Nigeria. High demand for university educa- tion and the need to produce the much-needed high-level manpower for the newly independent nation, made the federal and regional governments to found additional four new universities in the 1960's bringing the number to five. The federal and state governments established more universities in the 1970's and subsequent decades in answer to further request for university ed- ucation. Private universities started to appear since late 1990's. As of now, there are 117 universities owned by the federal government, state govern- ments and private individuals and corporate bodies. In the first four decades (1948 - 1988), the quality of the nation's university education was quite very good. Afterwards, the university education system derailed, so to speak, as a result of myriads of problems prominent ones being inadequate financing and erosion of...

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2023

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The study examined the impact of school enrolment growth on the carrying capacity of universities in Imo State, Nigeria. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey design with a population of 2,929 academic staff in the two public universities in Imo State. The sample size was 352 representing 12% of the population drawn using stratified random sampling technique. An instrument titled 'School Enrolment Growth and Carrying Capacity of Universities Questionnaire (SEGCCUQ)', structured on the 4 point scale, validated by experts and with reliability index of 0.84 was used for data generation. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. Among others, the study revealed that factors such as natural increase of population, influx of migrants, enforcement of compulsory education, raising of school-leaving age, increased enrolment of girls and so on influence school enrolment growth that bear on the carrying capacity of universities. It was recommended among others that the factors should help the governments and institutions to forecast enrollment more effectively likewise permit them to make adjustments to meet current or future enrolment.

This paper x-rayed the strengths, weaknesses and prospects of university education in Nigeria. It contends that continuous and holistic improvement in university educational system requires the collaborative efforts of various stakeholders. Various societies of the world have evolved various forms of education over time. Formal education has been accepted over time as being capable of enhancing unprecedented growth in societies. Considering the importance of education to the integral development of various nations, huge resources have always been channeled to boost the educational sector by various nations. This paper further discusses the roles of stakeholders in improving quality of university education in Nigeria. Internal and external stakeholders are identified and the various roles they could play in improving the quality of university education are discussed .In Nigeria, for instance, the educational sector is considered as one of the most essential sectors of the yearly budgetary schedule. Looking at the various levels of education, it is true to state that the university education is most suited towards providing the socioeconomic development that Nigeria yearns for. This is because it has been discovered that it is the development of the human person that invariably trickles to the development of other sectors of the socioeconomic system. An efficient university educational system could be considered as one of the best assets a nation can have. And against this backdrop, one could rightly assert that a dysfunctional university system would surely make for a malfunctioned country. This is why this paper has as its thrust to x-ray the university education in Nigeria, bringing to bare its history, strengths, weaknesses and prospects. The paper challenges that even though the nation's university education has achieved quite much, it is equally laden with weaknesses. If the future of university education in Nigeria is to be revamped, then the authors has made some recommendations that could assist in amelioration the university education system in Nigeria.