Journal of Education in Developing Areas (JEDA) Vol. 19, No. 1.

Institutional Diversification and the Challenges of Contemporary Changes in Higher Education for Development in Nigeria

By Jonathan E. Oghenekohwo, PhD Department of Educational Foundations Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State-Nigeria. Ganiyu Adekola, PhD Department of Adult & Non-formal Education University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State-Nigeria. & Olufunmilayo T. Iyunade, PhD Olabisi Onabanjo University,Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State-Nigeria

Abstract This paper examines the contention in the rationalization of Africans pressure by donor agencies insistence on basic education at the expense of development and diversification of higher education institutions towards addressing the development issues of the continent. As globalization phenomenon gathers momentum, there seems to be a risk of decline in higher education and the very urgent need to encourage a strong, dynamic renewal to be considered as partnership, rather than a dependent on a new, albeit an existing social order that places higher education in challenging opportunities which must be explored for Africa development. This paper therefore addresses five major but contemporary issues that face higher education development in the context of globalization and African development challenges. These issues include: demand for access and a shift from elite to mass higher education; appropriation of financial resource through adequate funding and the growing need for accountability and transparency measures; maintenance of quality and relevance, reassessment of academic degrees and diplomas; and internationalization in higher education teaching, training, research and development. These issues provide relevance or otherwise, to what other challenges facing the harvesting of global scientific knowledge for the development of African higher education as recommended for in the drive towards tracking the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). Introduction Over a decade ago, at a public lecture, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johanesburg, South Africa, Ogunrinde (1997) observed that the core mission of universities remains the train the intellect in the service of humanity. This aptly underscores Article 26 of the United Nations (UN) Declaration of Human rights which states, inter-alia; education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality. However, Africa seems to be alien to this UN position in respect to higher education. The perceived distance of Africa from this is underscored by broad based issues affecting higher educational development classified by Ogunrinde (1997) as; 1 Academic standards- (curriculum content and design, teaching and research methods, examination, and quality control/assurance in degrees and diploma as awarded); 2 Governance- (government policies and social demand, autonomy and academic freedom, university mission, internal governance, decision-making, policy on higher education investment criteria etc); and 3 Funding- (resource constraints, emoluments, welfare of staff and students, teaching and research equipment, library, ICT and generally perceived institutional support services.

Instead of addressing these issues collectively on global scale, there seems to be a growing and seemingly sustained paradigm shift from a genuine commitment to fast track the road-map towards assessing the progress made so far and also, designing appropriate and workable framework for stabilizing the issues of demand for access and higher education. One is aware that as a result of high illiteracy rate with sub-Saharan Africa, with the spending of an average of 5.1% of annual budgets on education (Hinchiffe, 2002; UNESCO, 2000), access remains constrained, as less than half of secondary school age attend school and so, significant regional disparities in access are evident (Saint, Harnett and Strassner, 2004). Besides, higher education enrolls a very modest 4% of the relevant age cohort, a level which compares poorly with economic competitors such as South Africa (17%), India (7%), Indonesia (11%) and Brazil (12%). This trend lends credence to Saint, Harnett and Strassner (2004)

www.jeda-uniport.com

Page 1

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). view that in contrast to the experience in the developed countries, many developing countries, including Nigeria have neither articulated and integrated development strategies linking knowledge to economic growth and development nor built up their capacity to do so through higher education development. On this basis, there arises a contention in the rationalization of Africans continued pressure by donors insistence on basic education at primary and secondary school levels at the expense of diversifying higher education towards addressing the development challenges in Africa.

Perhaps, the donors insistence could be justified by the submission of Hinchliffe (2002) that, estimates show that education expenditure in Africa is equal to only 2.4% of Gross Domestic Product and 14.3% of government expenditure. Besides, the share of these funds going to primary education has dropped to 35% and secondary educations portion has remained relatively unchanged at 29%, but tertiary educations share has nearly doubled to 35%. On this account, donor partners insist that attention be focused on basic education with emphasis on the Education for All (EFA) agenda and now more recently, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which also place emphasis on basic education for the reduction in the level of world illiteracy by half come 2015.

Thus, rather than providing support for higher education and its diversification, donor partners now direct their funding, investment and support at the basic primary and post-primary education levels through the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF using national agencies. However, the contention in this paper is that, donor partners cannot insist on basic education in developing countries, rather, higher education should form the cannon of the development instrument. This is justified in a framework of assessment by Kerr (1993) who notes that; For the first time, a really international world of learning, highly competitive, is emerging. If you want to get into that orbit, you have to do so on merit. You cannot rely on politics or anything else. You have to give a good deal of autonomy to institutions for them to be dynamic and to move fast in international competition. You have to develop entrepreneurial leadership to go along with institution autonomy (p. 16) The above view by Kerr does not seem to be adaptable to the products of basic education, rather, higher education institutions. Thus, higher education www.jeda-uniport.com Page 2

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). needs to be responsive in its diversification expectations, especially with focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This is why responsive higher institutions in that wise must be adaptive in its orientation to globalization with mission intentionally driven by and taking into consideration changing

circumstances, ability to identify appropriate ways to adapt and take responsive actions. Consequently, the four indicators used for determining the extent of such responsiveness namely access, teaching/learning, financial (funding) and

governance must be tracked for the purpose of diversification.

It is within the context of these variables that institutional diversification becomes vital to divest focus from donors insistence on basic education to higher education development as core investment sector needed for the accelerated transformation that embraces all the factors in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This issue is then viewed within the context of globalization, and institutional diversification of higher education development in Nigeria and Africa as whole. Globalization, Institutional Diversification for Higher Educational

Development and the Question of Relevance The rhetorics about globalization are many and this paper does not intend to delve into these controversies on what globalization depicts, rather, the interest is on what it implies. For instance, Marga (1998) observed that one may show reserve or criticism with regard to the ideology of globalism, interpreting any change in society just by considering market expansion, as an effect of pure marketisation, but one would be seriously mistaken to disregard or ignore globalization. It is also noticed that universities just like other institutions in the society operate on large areas and globalization has most directly challenged them to change. When a critical look is therefore taken on trend three areas are of major relevance namely: 1. 2. a change of vision- a relativist complacency, changing the content of education with learning content been subordinate to

learning how to learn with the replacement of reproductive education with the problem-solving paradigm and 3. an orientation of education towards innovation and creativity.

www.jeda-uniport.com

Page 3

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). These areas of changes have focus which is a matter of re-organizing academic curricula with a view to developing what are considered to be the four basic skills of todays specialist, namely the capacity to think in abstractions; the capacity to approach a problem systematically; the capacity to test solutions; and the capacity to communicate in modern languages and to learn by means of up-to-date electronic techniques (Field & Fegan, 2005). These changes as well as their expectations are today required of higher education especially universities by the phenomenon of globalization. One cannot therefore undermine the need for higher education (universities) to willingly learn from best practices as the only measure of success. Universities that hide behind isolationist outlooks and ideologies stand no chance of diversification in the academic, research and development market. Hence, globalization, internationalism and regionalization is still at work in terms of curriculum structure, models of financing, managerial patterns, forms of governance, partnership among others which are being taken over from the experience of universities internationally for attention.

However, Field et al (2005) contended that, it is noteworthy that while globalization demands learning from better experience, it does not demand uniformity, rather diversification, and that is the interest. Development in higher education need be competitive. Competitive performance in higher education at global scale cannot be achieved without explicitly defining the mission and the functions of universities and also without efficiently mobilizing resources aimed at accomplishing them. Thus, Field et al (2005) noted that if by mission, one understands a specific task, then eschewing abstract visions, unrealistic statements and avoiding falling into narrow functionalism, and considering the experience of the most representative universities of today, the mission of higher education today is then seen in the context of training and education of specialist at a competitive level with a view to enriching knowledge and performance in human activities. This perhaps, underscores the very need for higher institutional diversification rather than insistence on basic education that has no immediate impact on the expected development challenges.

Therefore, this paper debunks the views of many academics who vehemently criticize the marketisation of universities, disregarding the fact that universities www.jeda-uniport.com Page 4

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). have always tacitly produced for a market. Besides, marketisation and

globalization of universities call for individualization of learning and of the innovative capacity so that the results of this capacity can be competitive. This is on account that success in globalize market is obtained with products that incorporate more intelligence, not routine products, or elementary basic products offer at basic level. Hence, globalization requires the adoption of a new attitude through diversification, an attitude favourable to open markets, autonomous institutions and conceptual innovation. It requires that we should adopt a new vision of the functions and functioning of higher education, of the inclusion of the universities in society, and of the idea of the knowledge.

It is in the light of this globalization experience that development is contextualized. And in its simplest form, Allen (2000) has identified three main descriptions in which development fit. These are: (i) as a vision, description or measure of the state of being of a desirable society; (ii) as an historical process of social change in which societies are transformed over long periods; and (iii) as consisting of deliberate efforts aimed at improvement on the part of various agencies, including governments, all kinds of organizations and social movements.

It is therefore a process of economic, social, political and cultural change engineered in a given society by the efforts of all stakeholders, both internal and external including institutions, government, non-governmental organizations, (NGOs), technical and financial development partners with a view to improving the conditions of life of the population in a sustainable way. Inclusive in the above description is the involvement of higher education (institutions) and to achieve sustainable development, key development challenges need to be addressed through higher education programme diversification.

Key Development Challenges in Africa in the Context of Higher Education Institutional Diversification Despite Africas perceived considerable progress over the last decade, the continent www.jeda-uniport.com Page 5

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). continues to face major development challenges, including a higher incidence of poverty, illiteracy, poor health conditions, conflicts in some regions, and the relentless surge of HIV/AIDs at a time when a number of regions in the developing world are benefiting greatly from economic opportunities resulting from

globalization. The situation is so serious that it is now generally acknowledged that the Africa continent, more than any other region of the world, faces the danger of regressing and being irreversibly left behind as a consequence of the rapid changes being brought about by the forces of globalization. A few facts will convincingly illustrate this argument. The African Development Bank (ADB) has estimated that: between 40 and 45 percent of the African continents over 793 million people live in poverty, with about 30 percent classified as extremely poor, that is, living on less than $1 per day. Even more appealing is that, among all developing regions, Africa has the largest proportion of people living in absolute poverty, and that proportion has remained virtually unchanged for a decade (Kabbaji, 2003:34). The UNDP Human Development Report (2005) confirmed ADBS assessment of poverty in Africa by revealing that in 1990, the average American was 38 times richer than the average Tanzanian. As at 2007, the average American was 61 times richer. The situation becomes even more unacceptable when it is borne in mind that while a sub-Saharan African lives on less than $1 a day, a cow in Europe or Japan receives $2 or nearly $4 a day respectively. But poverty in Africa does not express itself in economic terms only. It also has a social dimension as: Africa is not only the greatest loser in a globalizing world, it is also structurally and institutionally positioned to continue being the greatest loser unless. African leaders and their citizens think again of the realities of our world, and how to break away from the systemic injustice and procedural unfairness that characterizes our engagement with the outside world (Mkapa, 2005:4). Given the disadvantaged position that Africa holds in todays globalised world, Mkapa urges Africans and their development partners to be sufficiently agitated to design new initiatives through higher education institutional

diversification and work for a better future for Africa and its future generations. No matter which new strategy should be adopted, there seems to be a consensus on the necessity for most African countries to double current economic growth rates and make major investments in upgrading social services through higher www.jeda-uniport.com

Page 6

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). education, if they are to come close to meeting the MDGs. To achieve this, they will have to implement prudent macro-economic policies, and deepen governance reforms aimed at making governments at all levels more transparent and accountable to the people. They will also need to allocate additional resources to the social sectors while improving the efficiency of their delivery through higher educational development.

In a discourse on the specific challenges that face higher education development in its diversification drive, Omolewa (2001) noted that, generally, higher educations challenges in Nigeria among other African countries are related to:

its effective deployment to liberate the poor, empower the weak and give hope to the hopeless, encouraging all of these to acquire self-confidence and pride in themselves and the capabilities, produce a regenerated and profoundly revived people who would learn to live in harmony with one another such education, must be consistently geared towards the pursuit of excellence and high quality without regard to differences in equity, human rights and justice (p. 81). In view of the above generic challenges, Ndabawa (2003) identified higher education diversification challenges to include among other issues: quality and standard, for which Okebukola (2000:90) was worried that improvement in higher education quality has been doubtful (p. 90). In terms of relevance of curricula to community aspirations, Ndabawa (2003) cited Akinpelu (1983) as saying that, the sheer lack of renewal of the curricula creates a seeming mismatch between what the society expect and what higher institutions offer. Also related is the concern of academics with employability of graduates where a focus on the synergy or lack of it between institutions and work is a growing challenging factor. Ndabawa (2003) also noted staffing and staff development initiatives, reform of academic functions-(teaching, research and publication,) funding and

infrastructure development, generation of partnership with community, adapting to the era of Information Communication Technology (ICT), widening of access through open and distance learning, collaboration or partnership with local and international development partners as well as the democratization of higher education institutional administration are the major challenges of higher www.jeda-uniport.com Page 7

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). education in Nigeria. These challenges are real, cogent and demanding in institutional diversification and the need for sustained collaboration and partnership in resource allocation and utilization provides a link to closing the gap.

On a similar note, UNESCO (1998) provided five major issues which represent the core of the diversification challenges and contemporary changes in world higher education system. Among other things; UNESCO notes with concern; i. the continued demand for access which had doubled and even tripped in some countries (including Nigeria) necessitating a shift from elite to mass higher education; ii. the continued reduction of financial resources and growing accountability measures imposed by governments; iii. the maintenance of quality and relevance and the measures required for their assessment. This will grow since student numbers could reach 120 million by the year 2050; iv. the on-going problem of graduates employment which is forcing reassessment of academic degrees and diplomas; and v. the growing reality of internationalization in higher education teaching, training and research which deals with the mobility of both people and knowledge (globalization) (p. 6).

These challenges also mirror the 2015 8-point expectations of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are to address poverty, illiteracy, infant and maternal mortality, gender equity, sustainable environment and partnership in development.

Tracking the Challenges for Higher Educational Development in Africa: Recommendations or Options Taking a cue from the Nigeria experience, higher education has six goals, although it may vary in other African countries, yet the focus may also be interlinked. The Nigeria National Policy on Education NPE (2004), provides that higher education is expected to:

www.jeda-uniport.com

Page 8

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). i. contribute to national development through high level relevant manpower training; ii. develop and inculcate proper values for the survival of the individual and society; iii. develop the intellectual capability of individuals to understand and appreciate their local and external environment; iv. acquire both physical and intellectual skills which will enable individuals to be self-reliant and useful members of the society; v. vi. forge and cement national unity; and promote national and international understanding and interaction (Ojedele & Ilusanya; 2006: 49-50).

The above expectations may not be significantly distant from what obtains in other African countries in terms of their policies on higher education. Thus, tracking the challenges of higher education will rely on diversification of institutional mission and vision within the context of new dimensions which will take into consideration; 1 strict adherence to the provision of the university autonomy-using the yardstick of global best practices; 2 diversifying funding by attracting private sector funding (without funding agencies dictating or directing the programmes of fund allocation), and considering more appropriate pricing of higher education facilities and services; 3 update and restructure curricula to meet the demands of national and globalised competition for development; 4 setting up effective monitoring (through quality assurance) of universities to ensure strict adherence to standard; and 5 Decentralizing the competitive structure of higher education for

performance enhanced reward system.

These will influence internal efficiency which depicts a measure of how successful the system is in processing inputs which also derives relevance from quality assurance. In tracking the development challenges of higher institutions for

www.jeda-uniport.com

Page 9

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). Africas development, Ekhaguere (2000) then noted that the factor of quality in quality assurance must exist and be related to:

fitness of purpose: measured by the extent to which higher education institutions align with, or fit national priorities, goals, objectives and aspirations;

value for money: measured by achieving more with less in an efficient manner;

8 9

perfection: perceived as the attainment of a near flawless products; and excellence: viewed as the attainment of exceptionally high standards (p.2)

Developing and sustaining these elements of quality in African higher education depend on certain parameters which are accepted as best practices in the internationalization of quality in higher education diversification. Therefore, in the view of Osasona (2006), all aspects of higher education programmes must be clearly related to the purpose of the institution and national objectives. And considering the expectations of higher education institutions as already noted, the suggested parameters for measuring quality have been classified into physical facilities, equipment, funding and staffing.

Much as diversification is needed, the factor of appropriate funding by national and international development partners must form the core of higher education development in Africa.

Conclusion The growing challenges of global competition in higher education need be reinvented to have a human face (UNDP, 1999), which must be made to serve all people, both in the developed and developing world. Besides, Bhola (2006) established that educational systems which also include higher education must be expanded (diversified) to guarantee access and social justice. Besides, the content and structures of higher educational system must be made to serve the modern economy, as well as traditional economies. The new higher education system as envisioned, must also serve those living in subsistence economies by successfully

www.jeda-uniport.com

Page 10

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1). disseminating modern knowledge and intermediate technologies among developing communities (Bhola, 2002).

Finally, the continuing development problems and donor insistence on basic education, has deflected attention from higher learning which, as globalization or internationalization phenomenon gathers momentum, risks its further decline. There is now a strong dynamic paradigm shift towards renewal to be considered as a partner, rather than a dependent, in a new social and globalized development order.

References Allen, T. (2000). Meanings and views of development. In T. Allen and A. Thomas (eds). Poverty and development in the 21st century. Open University. Oxford University press. Altbach (2001). Academic freedom: International warning signs. www.bc.educ/bcOrg/aup/soe/cihenewsletter/news24/text/text001 Bhola H.S. (2002b). Reclaiming Old heritage for proclaiming future history: the knowledge-for-development debate in African context. Africa Today, 49 (3); 321. Bhola, H.S. (2006). Access to education: A global perspective. In A. Odunaran and H.S. Bhola (eds). Widening access to education as social justice-Essays in Honour of Micheal Omolewa. The Netherlands. Springer. Ekhaguere, G.O.S. (2000). Quality evaluation guide. Association of African Universities.

Ekhaguere, G.O.S. (2006). Developing a culture of quality in African Universities. In A.I. Olayinka and V.O. Adetimirin (eds). Proceedings of a Symposium to Mark the African University Day 2005. Ibadan, The Postgraduate School. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). National policy on education (4th edn) Lagos, NERDC Press. Havery, L. and Green D. (1993). Defining quality, Assessment and evaluation in higher education, 18:9-34. Kabbaj, O. (2003). The Challenge of African development. Oxford. Oxford University Press. Mkapa, B. (2005). President of the United Republic of Tanzania Speech at the Commission of Africa Union. www.jeda-uniport.com Page 11

March , 2011 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING AREAS (JEDA) VOL.19 (1).

Ndabawa, S.A. (2003). The Challenges of higher education in Nigeria today In Kolo and G. Ashituabe (eds) Minna. A publication of the conferences and staff seminars committee. Occasional Publication Lecture Series No. 01. I.A. Ogunrinade, A.F. (1997): University education for the 21st Century: Old problems and new challenges. A public lecture at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 14th May. Ojedele, P. and Ilusanya, G. (2006). Planning and policy of higher education in Nigeria. In J.B. Babalola; A.O. Ayeni, S.O.; Adedeji; A.A. Suleiman and M.O. Arikewuyo (eds): Educational Management Thoughts and Practice. Ibadan. Codat Publications (pp. 48-77) Omolewa, M.A. (2001): The Challenge of education in Nigeria. Ibadan University of Ibadan Press. Osasona, O. (2006). Parameters for measuring quality In A.I. Olayinka and V.O. Adetimirin (eds). Proceedings of a Symposium to mark the African University Day 2005. Ibadan, the Postgraduate School. Retrieved 5/06/2006 Saint, W., Hartnett, T.A; and Strassner, E. (2004): Higher education in Nigeria. A status report. World Education News and Reviews 1-5. United Nations Development Program (UNDP) (1999). Human Development Report 1999: Globalization with a Human Face 2 Human Development Report Office, New York, UNDP.

www.jeda-uniport.com

Page 12