Increase of Tuition Fees in Nigeria University Is Necessary for a Better
Educational Standard
Over the years, dishearteningly, the educational standard in Nigeria is widely deteriorating and it is in a state of gargantuan quagmire. To exacerbate the matter, according to Centre for World University Ranking(CWUR), only one of our universities made the list of top 1000 universities in the world, the ranking that was based on the quality of education and training of students as well as the research made in each faculty of each school and the impact of past students to the development of the world.
The debilitating condition of our universities is appalling. The motivation of staff has been hampered as the lecturers always abscond from the classroom to venture into additional sources for livelihood as they are being paid lesser compared to their foreign counterparts. The students are battling with an unconducive environment for learning and aggravating with the congestion in the lecture theater, after the school authority admits more than the required space. The poor state of the hostels is worrisome while electricity supply and piping of water have left much to be desired.
Retroactively, the record of death is highly proliferated, as the medical aid is at low ebb and the outrageous act (cultism)has been given a chance to spread its tentacle by killing and humiliating the students, thereby, making the campus to be frightening. With this disgusting condition,
production of quack and mediocre graduates now spreads fluttering wings from year to year in the Nigerian Universities.
However, this has made a clarion call to some people on how the country can be rescued from the pit of mess that our university education dabbles into. The concerned people have frequently discussed on how standard education can be revamped and put in place, this has resulted in four talking points, which are: the students; the lecturers; the governments and increase of tuition fees. Some people have blamed the students for espoused laziness in their academic duties, but, this has been confuted by the work of the Nigerian mettlesome geniuses, who have done greatly in their academic performance both internally and externally.
Also, the blame has partially been shifted to the lecturers for their depraved and negligent attitudes towards their work, this assertion is also not completely. subscribed to, by the people because it is not anchored on factual reason.
Furthermore, some people has criticized the government for not disbursing adequate funds to finance the universities. However, it is definitely obvious to every Nigerians that the power of different government(state and federal)has been weakened and incapacitated to provide a better educational standard for the country. The allocation by the government for the
institutions to govern their affairs like, payment of salaries, building and maintenance of infrastructure, provision of social amenities are not frequent. This has done nothing, but endemically paralyzed the academic activities of our universities.
Apparently, everyone knows that money is a sine qua non to facilitate a better educational standard. Since the government cannot ensure qualitative education, due to the shortage of fund allocated to the university, then, there is the need to increase tuition fees in the country as the lasting solution to the lack of a better educational standard.
Analogically, the schools that the students pay huge tuition fees nutmeg the schools that their students meagerly pay. This was shown in the list of four top Universities in the world, which was jam-packed with private universities. Even, in Nigeria, a University that was established in 2002(Covenant University)is rated third in the country, being ahead of most 1st and 2nd generations universities. The plunge of private University to outweigh the public institution is largely caused by huge financial strength of the schools, that is aided by the high amount of money paid by the private University students.
Funnily enough, Nigerian public University students desire their institutions to be like Harvard, Yale and Stanford university but they cannot pay as the students of aforementioned schools, because they are traumatized by Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s expression that education is free and they always go on ravage, whenever they are told to make little payment.
How can increase of tuition fees necessitate a better educational standard?
Derek Bok, a former president of Harvard University said, “if you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” The meaning is that you will certainly get the reward of your spending.
How will the increase produce positive effects?
Firstly, research is important in the university. It always make the students to work hard, find new solutions and . Some Universities’ laboratories have been shut down and some are not functioning for practical and to conduct research, due to insufficient fund to maintain the laboratories efficiently. In America, the universities spend a lot to conduct research. John Hopkins and university of Michigan annually spend $2,106,185 and $1,322,711 respectively.
Innovation in technology needs to be enhanced in our Universities. The inventions by the students always lack sponsorship, which makes their efforts wasted. If the school appropriates fund for such invention, it will be improved upon, and mass produced for public use. This will enhance national productivity and more technological discoveries. It can largely be achieved when the tuition fees received from the students is sufficient to finance such projects.
To avoid incessant strikes, the school must run without government intervention. Over the years, the staff of Nigerian Universities have always gone on strike whenever their salaries or allowances are being tampered with. For instance, our public tertiary institutions have been on indefinite strike for almost seven months now.
Outrageously, the students are the victims of any strike, because the school will rush them to complete the syllabus for a short period in order to meet the academic calendar. Most students spend extra year(s) in school on strike issues as related to staff salary arrears. This can be stopped when the tuition fee is increased.
More so, increase of tuition fees will help the school to employ competent personnel and send the current staff on international training and workshops to gather more experience and expertise that will improve students’ learning processes. Also, there will be sufficient fund to update the lecture materials and school facilities to conform to the global standard.
Furthermore, increase of tuition fees will
necessitate construction of buildings for lecture rooms and hostels to avoid overcrowding. It will also enable the institution to expand and admit more students. Widely is it reported that China and India annually have 600,000 and 350,000 engineering graduates respectively. Having such records has helped the two countries to be more technologically advanced. We can also replicate it by building a robust financial capacity by our universities to raise more experts in all professions and bolster development in the country.
The medical center in the school should be
equipped with modern facilities and accessibility of drugs must not be limited or scanty in the Universities, with competent and resilient staff at the center. Hostels must be conducive and serene for learning as well as availability of power and water supply regularly. Also, free Wi-Fi is indispensable in the Universities, because the world has become a global village and the students need to surf the internet such as: downloading of materials; reading of news; finding solution to an assignment or a research; gathering of facts; interacting with people on social media and a lot more services that will help them to attain greater educational height.
Frankly, without the increase of tuition fees, all these cannot be done in our universities and in absence of improvement of the aforementioned points, there cannot be a better educational standard in our universities.
You cannot pay 15,000 or 30,000 and hope to enjoy like the person that pays 600,000 or 700,000.
Conclusively, money is the wheel of the gospel and the going is getting tough, in which only the tough will get going, if we want our Universities to compete with the likes of Harvard; Oxford, Stamford, Cambridge and other top universities in the World, we must increase the tuition fees of our universities in order to ensure a better educational standard, since our government has lost the shadow of trust in adequately financing our universities.
It’s nearly impossible to find educated people about this subject, but you seem like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks