Higher Education and the Millennium Devlopment Goals

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HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT

GOALS

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction and Background to the Study

The capacity to generate and harness knowledge in the pursuit of

sustainable development and improved living standards constitutes

the foundation of a countrys advantage (Porter 1990).

From a global perspective, economic and social developments are

increasingly driven by the advancement and application of knowledge.

Education in general and university education in particular are

fundamental to the construction of a knowledge economy and society

in all nations (World Bank 1999).

Nigeria with a population of 140 million and ample natural resources,

has two thirds of its population struggling to survive on less than one

dollar a day (World Bank 1996), they lack the means to stay alive in

the face of hunger, diseases and environmental hazards.

According to Saint, Hartnett and Strassner, 2004, in the rural

communities, impoverished families have poor access to education,

decent employment opportunities, sexual and reproductive health

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information and services. Adults and children die of AIDS and

tuberculosis without hope of treatment. Many of urban agglomeration

too are in sprawl of densely settled humanity lacking basics of health

care, water supply, adequate sanitation, electricity and access to

transport.

By 2015 it is expected that these crises of underdevelopment and

extreme poverty should be reduced by half according to practical steps

provided in the Millennium Development Goals. MDGs are time bound

targets for addressing extreme poverty, low income, hunger, disease,

lack of adequate shelter while also promoting gender equality and

women empowerment, education, environmental sustainability, human

rights, democracy and good governance. (Saint, Hartnett and

Strassner, 2004).

The fundamental structure for attaining the MDGs is to create the

linkage of university education to our national socio-economic plan,

NEEDS- National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy.

Federal Ministry of Education (FME, 2006).

From the foregoing, Nelson, 1993, corroborated that the strategic

investment in university education together with particular institutional

and policy choices concerning the nature of the university system, the

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extent of intellectual property protection, the division of labour

between private industry, universities and governments in research

and development performance with adequate funding combine to

create a National Innovation System that can turn the tide of

underdevelopment.

The research effort is to examine whether university education can

influence the attainment of MDGs, with special reference to eradication

of extreme poverty and hunger, combating HIV/AIDS and other

diseases, and whether equal access of boys and girls to university

education can promote gender equality and women empowerment.

Statement of the Problem

The ultimate problem of this study is to examine how university

education can influence the attainment of the MDGs, with special

reference to reduction of extreme poverty and hunger, and promotion

of gender equality and women empowerment.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is as stated below:

To examine whether the University of Lagos have achieved the

objectives of acquisition of both physical and intellectual

capacity of the individual.

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To investigate reform efforts at the University of Lagos are in

tune with the strategies for eradication of extreme poverty and

hunger.

To access whether academic programmes in the University of

Lagos is capable of influencing drastic reduction in HIV/AIDS

prevalence in Nigeria.

To examine whether University of Lagos programmes can

promote gender equality and women empowerment

Research Questions

Would University of Lagos academic programmes influence the

achievement of physical intellectual capacity acquisition by the

individuals?

Would enrollment expansion be in tune with the strategies for

eradication and of extreme poverty and hunger?

Would government policy on university autonomy actualize the

achievement of the academic standard capable of promoting

high level manpower development?

Would University of Lagos students perception of university

education promote gender equality and women empowerment?

Research Hypotheses

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University of Lagos academic programmes would have no

significant influence on achievement of physical and intellectual

capacity by the individual.

Enrollment expansion would have no significant relationship with

the strategies for the eradication of poverty and hunger.

Government policy on university autonomy would have no

significant impact on the achievement o the academic standard

capable of promoting high level manpower development.

University of Lagos programmes would have no significant

influence on the promotion of gender equality and women

empowerment.

Significance of the Study

This study investigates the role of university education in the

actualization of the MDGs. The significance of the study is to:

Serve as source of information to university students and the

public on higher education and MDGs.

Provide policy makers with information on the missing links

between education and MDGs.

Scope and Delimitation

The scope of this study is restricted to issues in university education,

problems and prospects of national transformation as bench marked

by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

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The study is delimited to eradication of extreme poverty and hunger,

combating of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and promotion of gender

equality and women empowerment.

Limitations of the Study

The following limitations are envisaged in the course of this study:

Insufficient fund

Time constraint

Dearth of research materials and policy documents.

These limitations are rooted in the fact that the researchers are in full

employment, the jobs may not avail them the time required to carry

out the study, and this may necessitate the employment of research

assistants for effective data collection and sourcing of materials. Thus,

additional funds would be required.

Operational Terms

Millennium Development Goals

Higher education

Poverty

Extreme poverty

Empowerment

Sustainability

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CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

This research is designed to conduct an investigation into the role of

higher education in the attainment of the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs).

The review of related literature focused on these major areas:

Introduction

Meaning and Concept of Higher Education

The Term University

Objectives/ Purpose of University/ Tertiary Education in Nigeria

Conceptual Framework

Challenges in Nigeria University System

Higher Education Policies Since 1998

The Present Higher Education System

The Review of Policy Reforms

Concept of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

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National Strategies for the Attainment of the Millennium

Development Goals(MDGs)

Concept of Extreme Poverty: MDG 1

Concept of Gender Bias and Social Exclusion: MDG 3

University Education, Elimination of Gender Disparity and

Women Empowerment.

Introduction

From a global perspective, economic and social developments are

increasingly driven by the advancement and application of knowledge.

Education in general and higher education in particular, are

fundamental to the construction of a knowledge economy and society

in all nations (World Bank 1999). Yet the potential of higher education

systems in developing countries to fulfill this responsibility is frequently

thwarted by long-standing problems of finance, efficiency, equity,

quality and governance. Now, these old challenges have been

augmented by new challenges linked to the growing role of knowledge

in economic development, rapid changes in telecommunications

technology, and the globalization of trade and labour markets (Salmi

2001).

Knowledge has become the most important factor economic

development in the 21st century. Through its capacity to augment

productivity, it increasingly constitutes the foundation of a countrys

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competitive advantage (Porter 1990). This change is most evident in

OECD countries, where investments in intangibles that makes up the

knowledge base country (e.g., research and development, higher

education, computer software, patents) equal or even exceeding

investments in physical equipment (OECD 2001). Developing

economies, while affected by these transformations, are not yet

reaping their benefits. This is because the capacity to generate and

harness knowledge in the pursuit of sustainable development and

improved living standards is not spread equally among nations. In

1996, OECD countries accounted for 85% of total Research and

development investment; and the rest of the world only 4%. Advanced

economies enjoy the fruits of self-promoting cycle in which the benefits

of research help produce the wealth and public support needed to

enable continued investments in research and development (Romer

1990).

In contrast, many developing countries have neither articulated a

development strategy linking knowledge to economic growth nor built

up their capacity to do so. Nigeria is one of these. Although it is Africas

largest country of the regions population, Nigeria has only 15

scientists and engineers engaged in research and development per

million persons. This compares with 168 in Brazil, 459 in China, 158 in

India, and 4,103 in United States (World Bank 2002a). What chance

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does Nigeria have of participating in the emerging global knowledge

economy? A review of the countys past and present higher education

policies may provide part of the answer.

Following years of questionable higher education policies under various

military administrations, recent initiatives by Nigerias democratically

elected government of Olusegun Obasanjo suggest policy movement in

the right direction. This study reports on the present condition of

higher education in Nigeria and assesses the new policy initiatives

against the backdrop. It begins by providing an overview of the country

and its higher education system. It then proposes a simple framework

for identifying key issues and analyses available data and suggestions

for further improving system performance.

WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION?

Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also

something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of

knowledge, positive judgment and well-developed wisdom. Education

has one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from

generation to generation. Education means to draw out. Facilitating

realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual.

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It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied

research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many

disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science,

linguistics, neuroscience, sociology often more profound than they

realize though family teaching may function very informally.

Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage or post secondary

education, is the non-compulsory educational level following the

completion of a school providing a secondary school, or gymnasium.

Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and

postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training.

Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary

education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary

institutions. Tertiary education generally results in the receipt in the

receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.

Higher education includes teaching, research and social services

activities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the

undergraduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as

graduate school). Higher education generally involves work towards a

degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed

countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enters

higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is

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therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant

industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated

personnel for the rest of the economy. Schofield. K. (1999).

Higher education covers the post-secondary section of the national

education system which is given in universities, polytechnics, colleges

of technology, colleges of education, advanced training colleges,

correspondence colleges and such institutions as may be allied to

them. Teaching and research functions of the higher educational

institutions have an important role to play in national development

particularly in development of high level manpower. Furthermore,

universities are one of the best means for developing national

consciousness. Federal Ministry of Education (FME), 2007.

Higher general education and training generally takes place in a

university and/or college. Such education is based on theoretical

expertise. Higher general education might be contrasted with higher

vocational education, which concentrates on both practice and theory.

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which

grants academic degrees; including bachelors degrees, masters

degrees, and doctorates in a variety of subjects. However, most

professional education is included within higher education, and many

postgraduate qualifications are strongly vocationally or professionally

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oriented, for example in disciplines such as social work, law and

medicine.

Deciding to further your education and attain a degree tends to

improve aspects of life. People with college degrees tend to earn more

money and salary increases over the years are more substantial than

for those that do not have a college degree or university degree.

Additionally, people that have a college are less likely to go through

long bouts of unemployment. In 2005 overall unemployment rates in

the United States were about 7.1% for high school graduates and only

3.5% for college graduates. There are many technical and manual

labour professions where acquiring a college degree may not seem as

with other career fields. However, attaining certifications and/or

degrees related to your field can yield better jobs and ongoing

opportunities. According to the National Association of College and

Employers there have been steady increases in college job placement

and recruiting on college campuses throughout 2005 and on into 2006.

This means that not only are college graduates more likely to find good

jobs, but they have added resources to aid in the job search process

during and after college (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

The system of higher education is binary and provided by universities,

polytechnics, institutions of technology, and colleges of education

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(which may form part of the universities and polytechnic, colleges or

are affiliated to these) and professional institutions. The university and

non-university higher education tracks are quite distinct and there is

very little opportunity for lateral movement between the two.

In 1998, Nigerian colleges of education enrolled 105,817 students;

polytechnics enrolled 216,782 students; and the public universities

enrolled 411,347 students (NUC, Abuja 1998). In addition, schools of

nursing and midwifery, and other professional training institutions had

an estimated combined enrollment of 120,000 students.

Universities can be established either by federal or state governments.

Institutions of Higher education owned by the federal government tend

to have bigger enrollments than those owned by state governments.

However, from the point of view of management structure and

governance procedures, there is little or no difference between the two

types of proprietors. Each university is administered by a council and a

senate. Within the universities, the institutes and colleges are more or

less autonomous.

Term University

University is an institution of learning of the highest level of education

for the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, conferring

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degrees and engaging in academic research (Oxford Advanced

Learners Dictionary). The Websters Reference Dictionary (1983) also

defines university as an institution is concerned with higher branches

of learning, having various undergraduate schools awarding bachelors

degrees, and also graduates and professional schools authorized to

confer masters or doctorate degrees. To paint the colour clearer,

Okebukola (1998) described the university as perching on top of

pyramidal structure of an educational system. The establishment of

the apical region of the pyramid presupposes that the lower members

(i.e. primary and secondary) would have been in place. Universities are

known to offer both undergraduate and post graduate degrees,

although there are myriads of other programmes such as sandwich,

open universities, and distance learning programmes offered.

Land and birth were once indicators of power. Today knowledge is fast

becoming the new coin of the realm. Knowledge is power and

whosoever holds the rein of power can steer human destiny in any

direction he desires. The quality and programmes being provided by

the university in Nigeria is vested entirely on Nigeria University

Commission and each university.

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The unlimited demand for university education has led many students

to take courses just for the passion of acquiring a degree. This negates

the National Policy of Education section 50 of 1998 which states:

University qualification shall make optimum contribution to national

development by intensifying and diversifying its programmes for the

development of higher level manpower within the context of the needs

of the nation.

University qualification needs to match employers and labour market

requirement as closely as possible. Mass unemployment of university

graduates is the result where university programmes and labour

market are at variance. The issue of relevance, utilitarian criteria

based on prospects of income generation at completion of a

programme should be uppermost in the programmes provided by

universities. The idea of pursuing knowledge for its own sake or of sake

of engaging in a programme of study given a passion for learning in a

particular subject area will seem quaint if it is remembered at all.

Roberts (1999).

The dawn of the 21st century has brought profound and fundamental

changes to economics, technology, politics, culture, morals, social

values and ethics. Globalization is the driving force in all these

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changes. While globalization has induced collapse of time and space, it

has also expanded opportunities and challenges for individuals and for

nations and has sidelined the weak and the unprepared. Anya (2002).

The task of the university education will then be to empower the

individual to be able to cope with the dynamics of globalization.

Consequently the university must have an organic linkage with the

industrial and economic environment to contribute to economic growth

of the nation.

University relevance will be assessed in terms of the fit between what

the society expects of it and what it does. To remain relevant then, the

university should not just continue to turn out graduates but it needs a

paradigm shift in perception and selection of problems that deserves

attention in its research. It should concentrate its research on

problems that have practical linkage with economy and society. The

universities have tried to respond to these societal needs by

establishing consultancies to make knowledge and skills in the Ivory

Tower available to the members of the immediate and distance

community. However, there is need for university to have continuous

collaboration with industries in the selection and adaptation of

technologies to ensure their practical utility and relevance.

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Therefore what is required of universities is a transition from the period

when university pursued knowledge for its own sake to the

contemporary tomes when a university standing and relevance is

judged on the basis of the impact of the knowledge developed in its

laboratories, workshops institutions and departments in the wider

society and the applicability of such knowledge to economic growth

and wealth creation (Anya, 2002). Moreover, the absolute position of

the university graduate is declining as more educated workers are

displacing less educated workers in the same job.

Objectives of University Education

Every university is a community of scholars engaged in the pursuit of

truth. It seeks in particular those truths which liberate human beings

by helping them to know themselves and the world around them and

by enabling them to order their own lives so as to attain their proper

ends.

It seeks to promote respect for the worth and dignity of every

individual. It seeks to develop, along with specific skills, creativity, the

capacity for thought, and the ability and desire to learn throughout

lifeUniversity of Prince Edward Island 2007.

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The National Policy on Education (NPE) 1997 considers objectives of

university education to be the acquisition, development and

inculcation of the proper value orientation, the acquisition of both

physical and intellectual skills as well as the acquisition of an objective

view of the local and external environment.

In specific terms Anya 2008 opines that higher education should

operationalize a competency based, reflective and cooperative

learning environment which encourages and facilitates individuals

ability to construct their own knowledge while accepting a life of

continuous learning.

The nations who wish to raise the living standards of the people as set

in the MDGs benchmark would do so through skill-competence-ability

model in the teaching and learning process. Isichei (2000). He further

argues that in developed nations where living condition is highly

comfortable, when there is decrease in death rate, adequate health

care system, improved social security and meaningful leisure and

entertainment programmes were acquired through industrial

technology by means of education.

Ranson (1995) posits higher education as performing economic

functions. According to him higher education has always sorted young

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people into an order of eligibility for different positions in the labour

market. It has a selective role. Young people as classified selected and

processed by schools for entry into different layers of the labour

market. And that a queue culture can be created in the labour market

if graduates are ill equipped for life outside school with no sellable and

barely being illiterate.

Purpose of Tertiary Education in Nigeria

(a)The acquisition, development and inculcation of the

proper value orientation for the survival of individuals and

society.

(b)The development of the intellectual capacities of

individuals and society.

(c)The acquisition of both physical and intellectual skills to

enable individuals to develop into useful members of the

community.

(d)The acquisition of an objective view of local and external

environment.

(e)The making of optimum contributions to national

development through the training of higher level

manpower.

(f) The promotion of national unity by ensuring that

admission of students and recruitment of staff into

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universities and other institutions of higher learning shall,

as far as possible, be on a broad nation basis.

(g)The promotion and encouragement of scholarships and

research.

Conceptual Framework

In developing countries, the number and seriousness of the problems

faced are naturally greater. People are sometimes unaware of the

importance of education, and there is economic pressure from those

parents who prioritize their childrens making money in the short term

over any long-term benefits of education. Recent studies on child

labour and poverty have suggested that when poor families reach a

certain economic threshold has been breached, even if the potential

economic value of the childrens work has increased since their return

to school. Teachers are often paid less than other similar professions.

A lack of good universities, and a low acceptance rate for good

universities, is evident in countries, there are uniform, over structured,

inflexible centralized programs from a central agency that regulates all

aspects of education. (UNESCO, Education for All Monitoring Report

2008).

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Due to globalization, increased pressure on students in curricular

activities

Removal of a certain percentage of students for improvisation of

academics (usually practiced in schools, after 10th grade)

(UNESCO, Education for All Monitoring Report 2008)

India is now developing technologies that will skip land based phone

and internet lines. Instead, India launched EDUSAT, an education

satellite that can reach more of the country at a greatly reduced cost.

There is also an initiative started by a group out of MIT and supported

by several major corporations to develop a $100 laptop. The laptops

should be made available by late 2006 or 2007. The laptops, sold at

low cost, will enable developing countries to give their children a

digital education, and to close the digital divide across the world.

In Africa, NEPAD has launched an e-school programme to provide all

600,000 primary and high schools with computer equipment, learning

materials and internet access within 10 years. Private group, like The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are working to give more

individuals opportunities to receive education in developing countries

through such programs as the Perpetual Education Fund. An

International Development Agency project called nabuur.com, started

with the support of American president Bill Clinton, uses the internet to

allow cooperation by individuals on issues of social development.

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Education is becoming increasingly international. Not only are the

materials becoming more influenced by the rich international

environment, but exchanges among students at all levels are also

playing an increasingly important role. In Europe, for example, the

Socrates Erasmus Programme stimulates exchanges across European

universities. Also, the Soros Foundation provides many opportunities

for students from central Asia and Eastern Europe. Some scholars

argue that, regardless of whether one system is considered better or

worse than another, experiencing a different way of education can

often be considered better or worse than another, experiencing a

different way of education can often be considered to be the most

important, enriching element of an international learning experience.

Dubois, Padovano and Stew (2006).

Changing economic, social and political situations in both developed

and developing countries have combined to create needs for constant

innovations and reforms in education. As Durkheim (1938) argued:

Educational transformations are always the result and the symptom of

social transformations in terms of which they are to be explained. In

order for people to feel at any particular moment in time the need to

change its educational system, it is necessary that new ideas and

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needs have emerged in which the former system is no longer

adequate. (Durkheim, 1938 p. 167)

Challenges in Nigeria University System

Our problems are not abstract, neither will the solutions be. It is going

to take a village but perhaps, we can save a generation FME 2006.

The key challenges in our educational sector generally and university

system specifically was highlighted by Federal Ministry of Education

publication Our Crises. Some of the challenges include:

1. Institutional Challenges

- Declining academic standards/skills: gap between Nigeria and

other nations.

Saint, Hartnett and Strassner 2004, observed that Nigerias Federal

University system is performing poorly in the case of teaching and

learning. This is true in terms of labour market absorption and

employer assessment of graduates. Similarly Olugbile 2008, posits that

the quality of graduates churned out by the nations universities is

becoming a source of worry for stakeholders in the education sector.

Employers of labour, who are the end users of these products, are

unequivocal in criticizing the quality of Nigerian graduate. To them the

graduates are not only unemployable; they also lack skills to be self

reliant. Even public private employer of university graduates as well

the government itself, consider the quality of the university graduates

to be inadequate. A study of the labour market for graduate found that

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employers believe university graduates are poorly trained and

unproductive on the job, and shortcoming are particularly severe in

oral and written communication and in applied technological skills

(Dabalen, Oni, and Adekoya 2000). Under these conditions, labour

market annually absorbed just 10 per cent of all graduates produced

by the entire educational system, Oni 2000.

- Sterile Curricula

Clark 2000 suggests that university department needs to change their

curricular every two to three years to ensure that the content of their

teaching reflects the rapidly advancing frontiers of scientific

knowledge. The NUC in a nationwide accreditation exercise revealed

widespread shortcomings in the curriculum. NUC (2000). Strikingly,

only 11% of the 1185 academic programmes reviewed were given full

accreditation. These were a notable decline from the 21% of 830

academic programmes that receives full accreditation during the

previous in 1990-1991 NUC (1992). THUS Saint, Hartnett and Strassner

2004 support that the university curriculum lack quality. In todays

globally competitive knowledge economy updating of curricula needs

to be an utmost permanent undertaking, Hartnett 2004.

-Low Admission Capacity (Funnel Effect)

Developing manpower or workforce is viewed by many economists as a

necessary step towards improved productivity in order to gain position

in a global economy. Porter 1990. However, students access to

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university education in Nigeria seems limited. Access is creating

opportunity for the nations workforce to obtain continuing professional

education to upgrade labour productivity. Expanded access and higher

participation rate means students population will become increasing

diverse in terms of the academic preparation, means, capacities,

motivation and interests (Saint, Hartnett and Strassner 2004).

-Corruption and Sorting

A pervasive culture of corruption exists within the universities. Reports

of resume falsification, plagiarism, cheating, examination malfeasance,

sexual harassment, contract kick backs, and obligatory purchase by

students of professorial lecture notes have regularly appeared in

Nigerian newspapers I recent years. Saint, 2004. Students buy bags of

rice and other gifts for lecturers. Others sort by offering money or

gifts (Deji-Folutile 2005). Okebukola 2005 defines sorting as a

situation where students who failed to meet their academic

requirement bribe the lecturers to sort themselves out. According to

Deji-Folutile 2005 the situation is so bad that one gets the impression

that some members of the academic community have lost all sense of

decency and intellectual self-esteem.

-Funding

Most universities have funding limitations. The principal untapped

source of university financing remains undergraduate students tuition

fees, which government prohibits. Income from student fees (for non-

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degree education and postgraduate courses only) has risen from 4% to

10% of total income from 1988 and 1998. But these funding is

insufficient to maintain institutional performance in teaching and

research, Hartnett 2000. For overhead and capital expenses,

government remained the major financier. In 2000 only a few

universities generated up to 10% of their income from internal sources,

Okebukola 2002.

2. Capacity Challenge

-Brain Drain

Brain Drain is severe shortages of academic staff within the

university system. According to Baraguda 1994, between 1988 and

1990 lecturers left the federal university system and this trend has

continued. An estimated 30% of approved academic positions are

presently vacant. Using its staffing norms per academic discipline, the

NUC calculates a staffing shortfall of 51% within the system (NUC

2002). Institutional deterioration and salary erosion during the past

decade has prompted substantial brain drain of academic staff and

impeded new staff recruitment. Rising workloads associated with

deteriorating staff-student ratio as well as declining financial

attractions of university employment compared to other opportunities

also contribute to the brain drain syndrome. Other factors include

destabilizing influence of unionized staff militancy over salary isues,

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the waning attractions of academic career in the absence of

meaningful research activities (Saint, Hartnett and Strassner 2004).

This presents a capacity challenge for the university to meet up with

global standard in teaching and research.

3. Socio-Cultural Challenge

-Youth Defiance

According to Oyebade 2000, our little ones are becoming increasingly

violent, destructive, dishonest and disobedient. They are highly

acculturating into the violent and corrupt Nigerian environment. All

over our campuses now, militarized and radical students groups exist

under different names and for different purposes. These include among

others, heat squad zero, radical elements, vigilante groups e.t.c.

okebukola (1998:310) denounce the growing menace of students

gangsterism, cult practices, examination malpractice and other forms

of violence and disruptive behaviours within the university system.

Higher Education Policies since 1998

The year 1999 brought a democratically elected government to Nigeria

for the first time in 15 years. With it came the political will to tackle the

nations long-festering higher education difficulties. Indeed, the

present government has instituted more policy and institutional

reforms in higher education than the combined governments of the

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government and employers. Topics addressed included management,

funding, access, curriculum relevance, and social problems (FEDERAL

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 2002).

In May 2002, a resulting set of legislative proposals designed to reform

existing higher education laws and establish a permanent legal basis

for these changes was approved by the Federal Executive Council and

forwarded to the National Assembly for deliberation. The proposals

reportedly would give university councils the responsibility for setting

institutional policies, hiring top management, and forwarding

institutional budgets; give institutions control over their own student

admissions, limit the role of the NUC to quality assurance and system

coordination; place curbs on the right of employees to strike; and

legally de-link the universities from the public service, thereby ending

their adherence to government regulations regarding employment,

remuneration and benefits (GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER 2002). As far as

higher education is concerned, Nigeria is finally a country on the move.

The Present Higher Education System

Nigeria possesses the largest university system in sub-Saharan Africa.

Although South Africas tertiary enrollments are higher, Nigeria boasts

more institutions. With 48 state and federal universities enrolling over

400,000 students, its university system supports numerous graduate

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programs (9% of enrollments) and serves as a magnet for students

from neighbouring countries. The system embraces much of the

countys research capacity and produces most of its skilled

professionals. Although nominally the responsibility of the Federal

Ministry of Education, it is supervised by the National Universities

Commission (NUC), a parastatal buffer body. A Joint Admissions and

Matriculation Board administer a national university entrance

examination and inform universities of applicant scores. A National

Education Bank (formerly the Nigerian Student Loan Board) is charged

with providing merit scholarships and student loans. Surveying this

concluded that more than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa,

the structures exist in Nigeria that could provide for a rational and

effective development of university education (World Bank 1988: 3).

In practice, however, the university system developed less rationally

than, anticipated. Enrollments in the federal universities (34% female,

59% male in sciences) grew at the rapid rate if 12% annually during

the 1990s and totaled 325,299 students by 2000 (NUC 2002b).

Enrollment growth rates were the highest in the South South region,

followed by the North-East region. Overall growth rates far exceeded

government policy guidelines, as shown in the table below. Nigerias

entire tertiary education system (federal, state, and private) comprises

220 institutions: 17 federal universities, 4 federal universities of

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technology, 3 federal universities of agriculture, 1 national open

university, 4 national centers for specialized tertiary instruction, 16

state universities, 7 private universities, 1 military university, 17

federal polytechnics, 27 state polytechnics, 7 private polytechnics, 22

federal teacher training colleges, 36 colleges of agriculture, 38 state

teacher training colleges, 4 private teacher training colleges, 12

specialized training institutes, and 4 parastatal supervisory agencies.

The government traditionally categorizes its federal universities into

groups based on their dates of establishment, as follows: 1st

generation

(Benin, Ibadan, Ile-ife, Lagos, Nsukka, Zaria); 2nd generation (Benin,

Ilorin, Jos, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcour, Sokoto); 3rd generation

(Abeokuta), Abuia, Akure, Awka, Bauchi, Markurdi, Minna, Owerri,

Umudike, Uyo, Yola . In comparison, state university enrollments

totaled 104,776, In 1997/98, accounting for 28% OF Nigerias total

university enrollments in that year (NUC 2003b).

Enrollment Growth: Policy Norms and Rates of Increase

between 1989/90 and 1998/99

Category NUC Policy Norms Actual Growth

Rates1st Generation

University

3% 9%

2nd Generation

University

10% 13%

3rd Generation 15% 21%

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UniversitySource: Hartnett 2000

Rising student numbers generated an enrollment ratio of 340 per

100,000persons (Asia averages 650 and South Africa 2,500) and an

average staff/student ratio of 1:21 (sciences 1:22; engineering 1:25;

law 1:37; education 1:25). In terms of academic disciplines, the highest

rates of enrollment growth occurred in the sciences and in engineering.

As a result, the share of science and engineering in total enrollment

rose from 54% in 1989 to 59% in 2000, consistent with national policy

targets (NUC 2002). Much of this expansion centered in the South-East

Region, where a combined annual growth rate of 26.4% in science and

engineering led the nation. However, efforts to expand enrollments

and improve educational quality are severely constrained by growing

shortages of qualified academic staff. Between 1997 and 1999, the

numbers of academic staff declined by 12% even as enrollments

expanded by 13%. Long term brain drain, combined with insufficient

output from national post-graduate programs in the face of rising

enrollments, has left the federal university system with only 48% of its

estimated staffing needs filled. Staffing scarcity is most acute in

engineering, science and business disciplines. Shortfalls are estimated

at 73% in engineering, 62% in medicine, 58% in administration, and

53% in sciences. In contrast, no staffing shortages exist in the

disciplinary areas of Arts and Education (NUC 2002b).

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The cost of running the federal university system totaled $210 million

in 1999. Financing for that system comes almost entirely from the

federal government. As a result of enrollment growth and currency

devaluation, recurrent allocations per university student in the federal

system fell from $610 to $360 between 1990 nd 1999 with obvious

implications for educational quality. However, agreements covering

university salaries and teaching inputs negotiated with government by

the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2001 have raised

this amount close to a much healthier $1,000 per student annually

(FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 2001).

Federal university revenues are received mainly from three sources:

the federal government (84%); income generation activities (7%); and

various student fees (9%) even though, no undergraduate tuition fees

are charged. In 1992, student fees had represented just 2% of

revenues. Equally attention Projected expenditures for 2002 are

approximately $260 million (Daily Trust, July 9, 2002).

Equally attention-grabbing is the fact that, in real terms, capital

budgets for federal universities surged by 40% during the 1990s. This

is the combined result of special campus refurbishment and

rehabilitation grants of substantial size, awards for university capital

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projects from the now-defunct Petroleum Trust Fund, and similar

grants from the recently operational Education Tax Fund. This trend of

increasing financial support for the system appears likely to remain

during the coming years. In August 2002, the NUC announced that the

federal universities would receive an additional 7.2 billion naira (USD

60 million) from government in 2003 and 2004 for the completion of

capital projects (GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER 2002b).

Patterns in the structure of university expenditures have improved

steadily during the last decade. Whereas in 1991 academic expenses

accounted for 49% and administration absorbed 46% of total

expenditures, by 1999 these shares were 62% and 35% respectively.

In the process, the portions devoted to teaching support and to library

development showed positive gains across the system. Direct teaching

expenditure per student, however, differed considerably among

institutions. In 1997/98 funds spent on direct teaching ranged from a

low of 137 naira ($2) per student at Sokoto to high of 1,683 naira ($21)

at Maiduguri. The system-wide weighted average was 331 naira ($4)

per student (Hartnett 2000). Overall, the NUC expenditure guidelines

appear to have had a statutory effect, although adherence to them

seems to have varied considerably among institutions.

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Nevertheless, when the financing of higher education is placed within

the context of overall education sector financing, the picture becomes

less heartening. Although tertiary education presently receives a larger

share of the education budget, the latters portion of the federal

budget has diminished. Over the past four decades, various Nigerian

governments have increased university subventions at the expense of

investments in primary and secondary education, as they struggled to

maintain financial support in the face of burgeoning higher education

enrollments. Using data from 1962, Callaway and Musone (1965)

concluded that Nigerias education expenditure represented 3.5% of

GDP and 15.2% of total government expenditure. Of the amount, 50%

was allocated to primary education, 31% to secondary education, and

19% to tertiary education. Today, Hinchliffe (2002) estimates that

education expenditure is equal to only 2.4% of GDP and 14.3% of

government expenditure. The share of these funds going to primary

education has dropped to 35% and secondary educations share has

nearly doubled to 35%.

A Framework for Assessment

In 1993, Clark Kerr, an internationally recognized higher education

expert from the United States, threw down a gauntlet of challenge for

higher education systems around the world. He said:

For the first time, as really internationally world of learning,

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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 institutional autonomy.

Inherent in Kerrs statement is a call for universities to become more

flexible and responsive. A similar call to action constitutes a central

message in the World Banks new technical paper, Constructing

Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education (World

Bank 2002). But how do we assess higher education flexibility and

responsiveness? El-Khawas (2001) offers a framework for generating

answers to this question. She distinguishes between rigid institution

resists making changes in institutional behaviour and often rejects

possible changes without openly considering whether they are feasible

or desirable. A responsive institution, on the other hand, is adaptive in

its orientation. It intentionally considers changing circumstances,

identifies appropriate ways to adapt, and takes responsive actions. El-

Khawas goes on to posit the use of four categories for assessing

responsiveness: access, teaching/learning, financing, and

management/governance.

The Case Studies for Innovation in Nigeria

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Changes in education often come about when the current practices are

challenged and questions are being asked about the way things are

done. The search for a more efficient way of achieving educational

objectives may lead to proposals for either a new way of doing the

same thing, or restructuring the current provisions to enable

achievement of the same set of goals.

Changes, however, do not normally come about just because someone

decides they want a change. There must be an event which informs

those in charge of education that the present system is either not

achieving or is incapable of enabling the achievement of

developmental goals. Once that decision is made, what remains is the

attempt to carefully identify not only why the old system can no longer

be continued in its present form, but also how to provide a more

acceptable alternative. The extent to which educational innovations in

Nigeria follow any specific pattern of change strategies will now be

explored using three case studies.

The Review of Policy Reforms

Important new higher education policies have recently been initiated in

Nigeria. They responded to long-festering problems of access, quality,

financing, governance and management within the nations federal

university system, and seek to bring this system more in line with

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global practices. The need for these changes is generally not

appreciated among system stakeholders. They have been relatively

cut off from the worldwide higher education transformations that took

place in the 1990s as the result of international sanctions and

cancellation international cooperation programs imposed in response

to human rights abuses within the country during the middle of the

past decade. As a result, the success of these reforms is likely

depending upon the extent to which rigidities of the present system

(i.e. within the National Universities Commission, the various university

staff unions, and within the universities themselves) can be replaced

by more flexible and responsive practices.

At this point, the principal task is not to accelerate the pace of change

but to institutionalize the current reforms and operationalize them

effectively. In order for this to occur, greater flexibility and

responsiveness are needed, particularly in the following four areas, in

order to create an enabling environment for the emergence of

progressive self-regulating, and self-reliant universities in Nigeria.

To establish a responsive model for a university education (El-Khawas

2001: 244) identifies three broad areas of public interest:

The need to provide hope and educational opportunity to ever

larger segment of the countrys population i.e. increased access.

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The need to encourage (and possibly subsidized) study in certain

fields important to a countrys economic development; and

The need to ensure a steady flow of talents into careers such as

medicine or teaching, where academic shifts in supply and

demand can negatively affect the quality of life for a countrys

people.

In response to strong social demand government has taken steps to

expand access and broaden scope and capacity of existing institution

through notable policy changes (FME 2007).

Increasing and aggressively marketing distance learning

programmes in universities to provide access to over 10million

students.

Expanding the Open University by introducing courses relevant

to market needs to create access to over 1million students.

Inviting foreign universities with proven track record of

excellence, high quality education and good employability track

record to establish campuses in Nigerian universities to provide

access to about 1.5million students annually (FME, 2007).

In addition government has increased the number of federal

universities through its consolidation policy.

It has licensed significant number of private universities and

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Announced establishment of National Open University. New

students hall of residence are constructed in various campuses

to accommodate expanding enrollment (FME, 2007).

On July 21, 2000 government announced policy on university

autonomy act, the government has reconstituted all university councils

to incorporate a broader stakeholders representation, accorded

greater autonomy to university councils and managers in the effort to

promote institutional responsiveness (Saint, Hartnett and Strassner,

2004). It returned to the university senate the power to determine

circular and initiate or terminate courses. It has established reference

point for quality improvement and begun to develop academic

benchmarks based on demonstrated student competences.

Government requires institutions to conduct annual review of curricular

in all departments to ensure alignment with labour market needs. It is

also funding entrepreneurship centres to establish the inclusion of

entrepreneurship in the curricular from 200 level. To tackle university

funding and limitations, government has adopted a formula-based

block grant resource allocation procedure that facilitates strategic

planning and rewards institutional performance (FME, 2007).

Saint, Hartnett and Strassner, 2004 observed that government also

announced a 180 percent increase in funding university system that

raised student allocations from $360 to $ 970 per year. Government

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has urged universities to generate in addition 10% of their current

budget from income producing activities. University staff salaries have

been exempted from public salary scales and regulations (FGN 2001).

In May 2002, a resulting set of legislative proposal designed to reform

existing higher education laws and establish a permanent legal basis

for these reforms was approved by the federal executive council and

forwarded to the national assembly for deliberation. The proposal

reportedly will give the university council the responsibility for

institutional governance through certain policies, forwarding

institutional budget, giving institutional control to set admission criteria

and select students and set the ground work for minimum academic

standard, limiting the role of NUC to quality assurance and system

coordination, placing curbs on the right of employees to strike and

legally de-link the universities from the public service. Ending their

adherence to government regulations regarding employment,

remuneration, and benefits. (GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER, 2002).

Among governments reform efforts are also institutional audit of

universities and associated parastatals, revocation of vice chancellors

former priviledge of personally selecting 10% of each years student

intake, encouraging universities to collaborate with the private sector

in research and development activities and promoting partnership

between higher education and partnership between higher education

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and partnership for consultancy to generate non-government sources

of income (FME, 2007).

Similarly, NUC is laying an ICT foundation for the Nigerian universities

network (NuNet), an electronic network that will eventually link federal,

state, and private universities, research and training centres and other

subscribers and provide them with internet connectivity, NuNet is

expected eventually to boost quality and relevance of university

education, teaching and research, as well as to facilitate the expansion

of an aggressive new national distance education. Saint, Hartnett, and

Strassner, 2004. As far as higher education is concerned Saint, 2004

agrees that Nigeria is finally a country on the move.

CONCEPT OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs)

A typical village in sub-Saharan Africa lacks access to paved road and

motor transport. Also lacking electricity, its energy needs are met by

extracting wood from the diminished secondary forests and woodlands.

Drinking water is unsafe, and latrines regularly serve as a reservoir of

infection through contamination of food and local water supply. The

children are suffering from diarrhea, pneumonia or malaria. Adults are

dying of AIDS and tuberculosis, without hope of treatment. In this

scenario women carry a triple burden, caring for children, the elderly,

and the sick, spending long hours to fetch water and fuel wood, to

process and produce food, and working on farms or family enterprise

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for little or n0 income. Impoverished families have more than they

desire because of poor access to education, contraception, decent

employment opportunities and sexual and reproductive health

information and services.

The urban centres are like extended villages.rural migrants take refuge

in ill-services and overcrowded informal settlements bereft of

functional infrastructure, employment and sanitation. Diseases like

tuberculosis spread like wild fire. HIV is often rampant. In such

circumstance practical steps can be taken to turn the tide. (UN 2002).

At the world summit on sustainable development later the same year,

UN member state gathered in Johannesbourg, South Africa, where they

affirmed the Millennium Development Goals as the world time-

bound development targets (UN 2002).

These goals are meant to address extreme poverty in many

dimensions income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate

shelter, and exclusion while promoting gender equality, education

and environmental sustainability. According to UN 2002, they are also

basic human rights of each person on the planet to health, education,

shelter, and security as pledged in the universal declaration of Human

Rights and the UN millennium declaration. MDGs report 2007

highlights Millennium Development Goals as:

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To eradicate poverty and hunger

To promote gender equality and empower women

To reduce child mortality

To improve maternity health

To combat HIV/AIDS, and other diseases

To ensure environmental sustainability

To develop a global partnership for developments

Why are these goals important?

As the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific poverty

reduction targets the world has ever established, the Millennium

Development Goals are too important to fail. For international political

system, they are the fulcrum on which development policy is based.

For the billion-plus people living in extreme poverty, they represent the

means to productive life. For everyone on earth, they are a linchpin to

the quest for a more secure and peaceful world. At the Millennium

Summit in September 2000 the largest gathering of world leaders in

history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their

nations to a new global partnership to reduce poverty, improve health,

and promote peace, human rights, gender equality, and environmental

sustainability. This unprecedented joint commitment was not a one-off

affair. The partnership between rich and poor countries was reaffirmed

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at the November 2001 launch of the Doha Round Table on

international trade.

The eight MDGs form a blue print agreed to by all world countries and

all the worlds leading development institutions. They have galvanized

unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the worlds poorest. To

change these severe imbalance women will need to gain control over

financial resources and will also need access to opportunity through

education. During the decade for women, (1976-1985) the UN

summarized the marginalization discrimination thus; women perform

two thirds of the worlds work, women earn one tenth of the worlds

income, women are two eighth of the illiterates, women own less than

one tenth of the worlds properties. In the five review of Beijing

platform for action, governments committed themselves to removing

all discriminatory provisions in legislation and eliminating legislation

gaps that leaves girls and women without effective legal protection

and recourse against gender-based discrimination by 2005 (UN report

2002). Similar view is also echoed by the convention for the

elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW).

National Strategies for the Attainment of the MDGs

Statistics from 1996 survey indicates that poverty is deep and

pervasive, with an estimated 70% of the population living in poverty.

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Besides the constitution. The Kuru Declaration of 2001 embodies the

vision of Nigeria.

To build a truly great African democratic country, politically united,

integrated and stable, economically prosperous, socially organized,

with equal opportunity for all, and responsibly from all, to become the

catalyst of (African) renaissance, and making adequate all-embracing

contributions, sub-regionally, regionally and globally.

The Kuru declaration and previous initiatives, such as vision 2010,

information and insights generated during the effort to prepare interim

poverty reduction strategy paper, developed into Nigerias plan for

prosperity a blue print for development called NATIONAL ECONOMIC

EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES (NEEDS). Obasanjo

(2003) describes NEEDS as a response to the development challenges

of Nigeria, providing framework for a nationally coordinated

programme of action by the federal, state and local governments.

NEEDS vision is the one in which Nigeria profiles its potentials to

become Africas largest economy and a major player in global

economy. It is a home-grown reform programme with the basic goal of

poverty reduction, employment generation, wealth creation and value

orientation.

To reduce poverty and inequality, the following strategies have been

adopted by NEEDS:

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Investment in education; Nigerias future prosperity depends on

producing children who are well prepared to take their place in

tomorrows society. NEEDS seek to provide more fund for

providing courses at school that build vocational and

entrepreneurial skills, improving training and exposure to

information and communication technology at all level, providing

distance learning programmes for greater segment of the

population. This is to strengthen the skill base of the population.

NEEDS will promote strict adherence to the university autonomy

act, which permits universities to attract private sector funding

and institute new mechanisms to cover their operating cost. The

courses thought at the universities will be changed to reflect

priority development of the economy. Science and technology,

particularly information and communication technology will be

mainstreamed. Innovation approaches will be developed to

ensure that lecturers access continuing professional

development, so that they remain at cutting edge of their

discipline. Wages will be linked to performance and students will

be exposed to mobilization and re-orientation and campaign that

emphasize a critical importance of hard work discipline and

selfless service.

Creating jobs; at 5.3%, the rate of urbanization in Nigeria is

among the highest in the world. Lagos has been growing at

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between 10 and 15 percent per annum and if this continues it

will become third largest city in the world by 2020. Since

manufacturing is stagnant, there are few jobs for growing urban

population and urban employment is currently estimated at

10.8% by making it easier for private enterprises to thrive, by

training people in skills relevant for the world of work and by

promoting integrated rural development in collaboration with the

states through SEEDS programme several million new jobs can

be created.

Empowering people; NEEDS provide a safety net that will prevent

people from becoming poor or poorer by providing programmes

for the most vulnerable members of the society. Special

programmes will protect the rural and urban poor, women,

widows, and widowers, victims of ethnic violence, crime,

unemployment or loss of income or HIV/AIDS. A poorly educated

farmer is less likely to know how to keep his family health and

less able to find alternative employment. As a result he is more

vulnerable to external shocks such as drought or falling market

prices.

Social explosion; NEEDS empower the poor by tackling social

exclusion head on paying attention to housing, health care,

income improvement, physical security e.tc.

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Gender equality/ women empowerment; NEEDS as a national

development plan has strong gender equality elements such as

affirmative action on womens 30 percent representation in all

programmes.

Targeted Instruments and Intervention Strategies for

Protection of Vulnerable Groups

GROUP INTERVENTION STRATEGIESRURAL POOR Access to credit and land; participation in decision making, agric

extension service, improved seeds, farm input and implements,

strengthening of traditional thrift, savings and insurance

schemes. Also the creation of poverty alleviation programme

(NAPEP)as an agency to benefit the poor.

URBAN

POOR

Labour intensive public work scheme, affordable housing, water,

and sanitation, skills acquisition and entrepreneurial

development, access to credit, scholarship and adult education.WOMEN Affirmative action (to increase womens representation to at leas

30%) in all programmes, education, scholarships, access to credit

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and land, maternal and child health.YOUTH Education, entrepreneurial development, skills acquisition, acces

to credit, prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and other STDs.CHILDREN Childrens parliament, juvenile justice administration, universal

basic education, education for girls, care of orphan and

vulnerable children.RURAL

COMMUNITIE

S

Water, rural roads, electricity, schools, health facilities and

communications.

Source: NEEDS Document, 2004. Nigeria National Planning

Commission, Abuja.

Concept of Extreme Poverty: MDG 1

Goal: to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the worlds

population whose income is less than one dollar a day and the

proportion of people who suffer from hunger. (UN 2002).

Concept of Extreme Poverty

Extreme poverty can be defined as poverty that kills depriving

individuals of the means to stay alive in the face of hunger, disease

and environmental hazards (UN report 2002). According to NEST 1991,

poverty refers to a situation and process of serious deprivation or lack

of resources and material necessary for living within a minimum

standard conducive to human dignity and well being.

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NEEDS document 2002, provide an honest and self critical assessment

of poverty in Nigeria; its causes and challenge confronting the nation.

It recognizes that more than two thirds of Nigerians are poor, despite

living in a country with vast wealth potentials. In 1980 an estimated

27% of Nigerians lived in poverty. By 1990, 70% of the population had

income of less than one dollar a day (FRN, 2004). Income is not the

only measure of poverty. The poor suffer from malnutrition and poor

health. Of the 11million children in developing countries who die each

year, before reaching the age of five, 6.3milion die of hunger (UN

Report 2002). NEST (1991) asserts that poverty may be created by

negative and unjust social conditions such as structural inequality, ill-

health, poor nutrition, low moral and motivation, ignorance and the

inadequacy or non-availability of basic needs such as clean water,

schools, health care, and labour saving technology. According to FRN,

2004, while one source of poverty is lack of basic services, such as

clean water, education and health care, another is lack of asset, such

as land, tools, credit and supportive networks of friends and family. A

third is lack of income, including food shelter, clothing and

empowerment (political power, confidence, dignity). Yet discrimination

on grounds of gender, race, disability, age or ill-health can increase

vulnerability to poverty. So do natural or human shocks as market

collapses, conflict, drought, floods e.t.c while rural poverty remains in

absolute and percentage terms, urban poverty is increasing rapidly as

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Nigeria has one of the fastest rate urbanization (5.3% annual growth)

in the world (NEST 1991).

A prerequisite for sustainable poverty reduction is alleviating hunger

since better nourishment improves labour productivity and the earning

capacity of the individual. If Nigeria fails to reduce poverty quickly

enough, it is unlikely that the MDGs will be achieved in Africa (FRN,

2004).

Concept of Gender Bias and Social Exclusion: MDG 3

Goal: promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as

effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate

development that is truly sustainable.

Gender Bias and Social Exclusion: MDG 3

Most of the worlds poorest people are women. What makes them poor

is the discrimination they face because of their gender. Women get

paid less than men for the same work or are not allowed to have a job

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at all. Yet in Africa it is women, not trucks, who carry two third of all

goods on the move. In sub-Saharan Africa women produce 80% of

basic food stuff. Instead of going to school 44million girls stay at home

to fetch water or work around the house.

Many women are beaten, raped, and infected with HIV/AIDS. Most

often die in child birth. Girls can be trafficked and sold for sexual

purposes. Female activists fight to change unfair laws and traditions,

but they are not given a say in the decision making process. The dice

are loaded against halve the human race. Without playing full part in

public life, it is much harder for a country to tackle poverty and

develop economy. Educated girls and women are better opportune to

earn higher wages lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.

DFID 2008. The foregoing, paints the picture of existing disparity in

gender the world over.

In Nigeria basically majority of women (over 60%) are illiterate (Longe

1996). Even with the increasing female participation in education at all

levels in the last two decades, Marinho (1995) female enrollment at all

levels of education remain low, Lassa 1996, claims that the female

literacy rate in Nigeria was 39.5% compared with 62.3% for males

indicate that female education seem to have continued to suffer

serious setbacks in Nigeria. Suara (2000:25).

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According to UNESCO 1992, women are most influential but often

neglected group in most of the African societies. This neglect to a large

extent has made women one of the disadvantaged groups in the

developing countries of the world where they are marginalized on

account of gender, social and cultural bias as well as other

stereotypes. Two thirds of those living under one dollar a day are

represented by these women. They are the poorest of the worlds poor.

The relationship between being female and being poor is stark. Over

the past two decades, the number of rural women living in absolute

poverty has risen by 50% as opposed to 30% for men.

University Education, Elimination of Gender Disparity and

Women Empowerment

There is also a strong gender dimension to inequalities in access to

education and employment in public services. There is wide gender

disparity in literacy rate, with the UNDP human development report

reporting literacy rates of 62.5% for men and 37.5% for women (Suara,

2000:25). In terms of access to university education, figures for

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1997/98 show that only 33% of Nigerian undergraduates were female

(Pereira 2005). The marginalization of women in Nigerias patriarchal

political system dates back to colonial era. Indeed, women were not

even allowed to vote in Northern Nigeria until 1976. The

marginalization of women has continued into the fourth republic. For

instance, out of a total of 11,881 electable positions available during

the 1999 elections, only 631(5.31%) were contested by women. Those

that managed to win were a mere 181(1.6% of total).

Promoting universal access to education by women continues to be a

challenge. Gender bias and gender insensitivity curricular all conspire

against the realization of fundamental rights to education for girls.

Trends and opinions in recent times on education suggest that

womens education is vital to the overall development of women in

particular and the nation in general. For instance, female education

has been found to have a more significant impact in family size and

female labour force participation (UN, 1996). Education, especially

university education is an avenue for individuals in any society to have

access to the right type of intellectual and occupational development

that will equip him/her to face the vagaries of life in the continually

changing society. It is the same well educated and trained individuals

who, ensure the survival, growth, development and prosperity of the

society in which they live, Mmereole (1990).

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According to Jomtien Declaration (2000), investment in girls education

translates directly and quickly into better nutrition for the whole family,

better health care, declining fertility, poverty reduction, and better

overall performance. Short-changing the girls therefore is not only a

matter of gender discrimination but is bad economic and bad social

policy. The UN Secretary General Report 2001, put it this way; in

particular, when society facilitates girls empowerment through

education, the eventual impact on them and their families daily lives

is unequalled. The multiplier effect of this according to Osisanya,

Olumuyiwa, Ejoh 1994 is that with education women are able to

perform their roles and responsibilities better. They are empowered

enough to make efficient choices about their roles and responsibilities.

In addition education becomes an important tool for enhancing better

life for women, making them earn money, enjoy better health, be

better mothers and have improved relationship with their spouses.

The Nairobi forward looking strategies 1995, for the development of

women includes; education is the basis for the full promotion and

improvement of the status of women. It is the basic tool that should be

given to women in order to fulfill their role as full members of the

society. Therefore women empowerment and gender balancing are

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effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate

development that is truly sustainable.

University programmes are of social relevance towards meeting the

academic, professional and manpower need of the country. It is

essential for improving womens living standard and enabling women

to exercise greater force in decision making in the family, the

community, the place of paid work and the public arena of politics. This

according to Ekwueme 2004, is because universities have the

responsibilities of sharpening the mind, cultivating an educated and

cultured man (i.e educating human mind, the body, soul and spirit),

equipping him with wisdom, critical and creative thinking skills,

desirable attitudes and values, ability to seek truth, cultivate and

interprete new knowledge in the light of new needs and discoveries. In

addition, universities have to provide leadership for material

development and for these; programmes are being vocationalized and

professionalized. It prepares students for diverse professions and

careers as human capital for the country in areas such as engineering,

arts, education, law, research, science e.t.c.

Empowerment of women can best be achieved and sustained through

enlightenment, training, skill acquisition e.t.c. (Osisanya, Olumuyiwa

2000). Womens access to university education also adds to

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improvement in development indicators like lower life expectancy,

lower infant and maternal mortality, lower fertility rate, improvement

in health, nutrition, literacy and economic growth and advantages to

their families; better health, nutrition, higher income and increased

educational attainment of younger generations, improvement in

domestic, agric and industrial productivity and there is often greater

participation in civil society (Floro and Wolf 1990, King an Hill 1993). In

order to significantly meet with the MDGs in gender equality and

women empowerment by 2015, it is crucial that initiatives that are

based on equal gender access to university education should be

enhanced in all our universities. This will raise the status of women and

bring them into the development process as equal partners with men.

The share of women in wage employment in non-agric sector will

increase, the proportion of seat held by women in national parliament

will improve, and ratio of literate female of 15-24 years will also

significantly be enhanced. These are major indicators of meeting MDGs

target on gender disparity elimination by 2015.

THE MDG CHALLENGE IN NIGERIA: CURRENT STATUS

Extreme poverty to be halved 70% of Nigerians live on less than

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between 1990 and 2015 $1 per dayProportion of people suffering

from hunger to be halved

29% of children are underweight

All children to complete primary

education

Less than 60% of primary aged

children attend school. Seven

million primary aged children are

not in schoolEliminate gender disparity in

primary and secondary education

by 2005

The number of girls enrolled in

primary education is 92% the

number of boys. In some states it

is less than 40%Reduce deaths of mothers due to

child bearing by three quarter

between 1990 and 2015.

One birth in a hundred results in

the death of the mother. Women

pregnancy related cause.Stop the spread of AIDS 5% of Nigerians are infected with

HIV over 10% in some states.

Over 1 million children have

already been orphaned by AIDS.Halve by 2015 the proportion of

people without safe drinking

water.

Less than 50% of the rural

population has access to a safe

water source.Source: National Consumer Survey 1995/96; Multiple Indicator Cluster

Surveys 1995 and 2000; Demographic and Health Survey, 2003.

The revelation in the above table shows that the attainment of the

MDGs vis--vis the level of poverty and gender equality, which is the

core interest of this study, is not achievable by the stipulated time in

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This chapter describes methods and procedures adopted in conducting

this research. It presents a vivid description of the population,

sampling, sample size, instrument and instrumentation.

The chapter is organized under the following subheadings:

Research Method

Sample and Sampling Technique

Research Instrument

Validity of Research Instrument

Procedure for Data Collection

Procedure for Data Analysis

Research Method

The descriptive research method is used since the study involves

collection of data to answer the research questions.

Population of the study

The population for this study comprised of four (4) lecturer I, 20

lecturer II, 60 graduate fellows, 36 teachers, 4 education officers, 4

civil servants and 32 undergraduate students.

Sample and Sampling Technique

The sample of the population for this study was two hundred (200)

subjects. They were randomly selected across the departments in the

faculty of education, University of Lagos.

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Research Instrument

A questionnaire was developed by the researchers to elicit information

from the respondents. Section 1 consists of questions on bio-data, such

as sex, marital status, educational qualification and statement of

experience. Section 2 of the questionnaire contained twenty (20) items

which was based on Likert scale of five points of response.

Validity of Research Instrument

The questionnaire constructed by the researchers was presented to the

project advisor for validation. Test-retest was used to determine the

content validity of the instrument.

Procedure for Data Collection

A total of two hundred (200) copies of the developed questionnaire

administered on the selected subjects. The researcher gave the

questionnaire to the respondents and retrieved them on completion of

response.

Procedu

Documents

Higher Education and the Millennium Devlopment Goals