Cacophony of Bleats: Insider s Response to Sustainability of Private Universities in Nigeria

Ayandiji Daniel Aina ()
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Ayandiji Daniel Aina: Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria

RAIS Conference Proceedings 2022-2024 from Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies

Abstract: An unprecedented number of new private universities were chartered in 2021 (20) and 2022 (12), bringing the total number to 111 which have been issued operating licenses since 1999 when the first four were registered. This act of proliferation (massification) has brought to the fore the raging issue about the sustainability of private universities in Nigeria. This growing concern formed a larger part of the theme of the summit on the sustainability of private universities in Africa organized a little over a decade ago (2012) by the Association of African Universities (AAU) in collaboration with the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Using an insider perspective, this paper tries to explore how government excessive consideration of the need to create access to higher education for young applicants and subtle regional balancing created a cacophony of bleats as the universities grapple with insufficiency of critical infrastructure (finances, equipment and human resources) with which to deliver on quality assurance. This paper discusses how the universities adopt survivalist strategies and the impact on late entrants to the circle vis-Ã -vis knowledge production, societal relevance, and innovation. It recommends a moratorium on further charter of more private universities and a consolidation of the existing ones.

Keywords: Private universities; Quality assurance; Access; Proliferation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 7 pages
Date: 2023-04
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Published in Proceedings of the 31st International RAIS Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities, April 6-7, 2023, pages 92-98

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