ABSTRACT
This study was
undertaken to investigate privatization of university education and quality
service deli very in South-West
Nigeria. It was meant to assess the essence of privatization of university
education and to ascertain the impact of adequate and modern facilities,
coupled with quality teaching personnel on the quality of education and the
mode of their service delivery in south-west Nigeria. Six research questions were formulated to
guide the study. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and the
data collection was validated questionnaire. The study population sample was
drawn from two private universities in Lagos and Ogun state. This study was made up of 100 students. The
research questions that guided this study also formed the basis for the 4-item
close-ended questionnaire that was administered. Section A contains personal
data that differs among categories of respondents, while section B contains
similar question items with little difference. The data gathered were analyzed
qualitatively using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17.0
The findings from the analysis therefore
shows that quality of teaching personnel has great influence on the quality of education ,coupled with
adequate and modern facilities which has positive influence on education.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to
the study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Purpose of the
study
1.4 Research
Questions
1.5 Significance of
the study
1.6 Limitation of
the study
1.7 Definition of
important Terms
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEWOF RELEVANTLITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
2.1 The Nigeria
National Policy on education clearly states that;
2.2 Historical
Development of University Education in Nigeria
2.3 The State of
Education in Nigeria
2.4 Deregulation of
Education
2.5 Implication of
Privatization on Access to University Education
2.6 Reasons for
Privatization of University Education
2.7 Problems of the
Deregulation of University Education
2.8 Private
university and Quality Service delivery
2.9 Strategies for
Quality Service Delivery in Private Universities
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Population of
the study
3.3 Sample and
Sampling Technique
3.4 Research
Instrument
3.5 Procedures for
Data Collection
3.6 Validity of the
instrument
3.7 Reliability of
the Instrument:
3.8 Method of Data Analysis:
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULT PRESENTATION
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Analysis of Research Questions
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, IMPLICATION, CONCLUSION
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
5.2 Conclusion and Recommendations
Reference
Appendix
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
Universities
all over the world are accepted as the citadel of learning and development of
human resources. According to Subair (2008), the entire intellectual and
professional life of a country depends on sound higher education, especially
university education that provides quality products (graduates) of
international standard. The Nigerian university system sprang out of the need
for the development of a high level workforce to take the challenge of nation
building after independent (Fadipe, 2000).
Higher education in general, which could be professional or
technical education, in particular; plays vital roles in the economic and
social development of a country. It provides a wide range of increasingly sophisticated
and ever -changing variety of trained manpower needed in education,
engineering, medicine, agriculture, management, communication, etc. It produces
researchers, who, through their activities, deepen and extend frontiers of
scientific and technical knowledge leading to innovations which energize
engines of economic growth and development. Apart from developing human
resources, higher education turns out thinkers who reflect on critical problem
that affect humanity and thereby ensure its survival and development and
growth. Thus, the single most important indicator of the nation’s future can be
said to be the state of its higher education. Universities are therefore
identified as critical engines for socio-economic and political development.
Universities have become a primary locus for innovation, expanding the pool of
high calibre manpower to address the challenges of under-development. In
Nigeria, education is however seen as an instrument for development and
national integration. According to the National Policy on Education (FGN 2004),
the teaching and research functions of higher educational institutions have an
important role to play in national development particularly in development of
high level manpower.
Specifically, the aims of higher education in Nigeria as
articulated in the NPE include:
(a) The acquisition, development and inculcation of the
proper value-orientation for the survival of individual and society.
(b) The development of intellectual capacities of individuals
to understand and appreciate their environment.
(c) The acquisition of both physical and intellectual skills
which enable individuals to develop into useful members of the community.
(d) The acquisition of an objective view of the local and
external environments.
The
policy further states that higher educational institutions should pursue their
goals, through, teaching, research, the disseminating of existing and new
information.
The exponential
expansion of the university system since the 1980’s amidst complaints of
dwindling standards led the federal government to adopt measures designed to
control the quality of education. Some of these measures include: the closure
to outreach centers or satellite campuses, introduction of rigid entry
requirements such as the post JAMB aptitude test, unduly long duration of
programmes and the transfer of regulations of regular programmes to distance
learning Programme. The Federal Government has embarked on some forward-looking
policies to reform the University System. In March 2002, a National Summit on
Higher Education was held to examine the management, funding curriculum
relevance and access into universities. There is a mass evidence to show
that the existing curriculum is not only
defective, but also lacks quality. The
NUC accreditation exercise in 2000 showed that, out of 1,185 academic programmes,
only 11% were given full accreditation (NUC, 2001). Besides, the requirements
to run universities according to private sector principles and the dominance of
managerial and entrepreneurial approaches to higher education have occupied the
centre stage in educational management. What has become fashionable in
Universities around the world is a shift from basic to applied research, with
emphasis on the nexus between education and the economy, and greater concern
with issues of intellectual property rights and the prioritization of research
for product development and commercialization. (Mala Singh, 2001). These trends
are bringing Universities in line with influential global paradigms and best
practices.
More
so, the demand for university education in the last 20 years is far greater
than the supply. This is in spite of the phenomenal expansion in the publicly
owned universities in Nigeria from 1 in 1948 to 56 in 2007.However, government
had problems providing space for the large number of applicants ready to be
admitted into the university, due to the explosive population rate of Nigerians,especially
the young ones. According to the population Reference Bureau (PRB) 2003,
Nigeria had a projected population of 133.9 million and 45 percent of these
figures are people of school going age. Consequently, the government alone
seems not to be able to provide the required educational facilities for the
teeming population of the school age.Almost 30 million people in the world are
fully qualified to enter a university; but no
available place for them (Duderstadt 2002). Bearing in mind that no less
than half of the world populations are youth under age twenty, most of
whom live in Africa, Asia and
Latin America , it implication on
staggering demand for university
education is enormous for government alone to shoulder. In Nigeria for
instance, the series of committees set up by the Federal Governments over the years (Long commission of 1990; EstuNupe committee on the future of Higher Education in Nigeria, 1996; and the Education , Science
and Technology Committee of vision 2010 , 1997) consistently reported
of the gross inadequate provision of the university education in Nigeria ( Olaniyan 2001).
In
the absence of improved facilities to cope with, there is increase in demand in
university education which makes most institution to exceed their carrying
capacities, which is defined as the maximum number of students that the
institution can sustain for qualitative education based on available human and
material resources (NUC2005).
Although
public universities have dominated the higher education landscape in Nigeria
for several decades, their failure to cope with admission pressures became more
critical with the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in
the later part of the 1980s (Obasi,2007) .Hence, the public supply of higher
education falls far short of the new demand. Incessant industrial unrest is
another major issue that necessitates the emergence of private education. Strikes
brings about destabilization of the learning process and lead to low quality
service from lecturers because of their desire to cover lost ground. More so,
there are serious allegations that the public university system in Nigeria is
characterized by poor funding, high students’ wastage, huge unsatisfied
demand-supply gap and lack of critical educational inputs. The tables below,
shows the trend in university admission for the past few years.
|
Academic Year
|
No. of
Applications Received
|
No. of
Admissions Given
|
Percentage
Admitted
|
|
1995/1996
|
508,280
|
32,473
|
6.4
|
|
1996
|
376,645
|
56,055
|
14.9
|
|
1997
|
419,807
|
73,781
|
17.6
|
|
1998
|
321,368
|
78,550
|
24.4
|
|
1999
|
593,670
|
64,358
|
10.8
|
|
2000
|
467,490
|
50,277
|
19.8
|
|
2000
|
467,490
|
50,277
|
10.8
|
|
2000/2001
|
550,339
|
60,718
|
11.0
|
|
Average
|
|
13.7
|
Source: JAMB, Annual Report for Various
Years as cited in Obasi (2007:47)
Alli
(2004) observed that Nigerians generally have the peculiar attitude of
individual solution as a response to social malaise. For instance people strive
to provide boreholes or water for themselves and generate electricity because
government has failed to meet their expectation. Hence, with increasing
awareness of the importance of education for human emancipation and
development, Nigerians continue to adopt the usual and peculiar response, which
is private option. Therefore the trend has been that of the private sector
gradually taking over the primary and secondary sub – sectors of the education
industry. Consequently, more parents and guardians tend to opt for private
universities where strikes and other vices associated with public universities
are virtually non-existent.
Also, access to higher education is
essentially a social process, deeply involved with the society’s cultural
pattern system of value [Thressher, 1970]. The conditions governing admission
into universities must therefore be determined by the existing social, economic
and political realities within the society. In Nigeria, within a population of
over 140 million scattered over 36 states and Federal capital territory
situated at Abuja, finding an equitable formula for admitting all eligible
applicants is a challenge.
Recently,
the federal government has initiated momentous reforms in the University
sub-sector, designed to promote institutional autonomy, strengthen governance
and entrench mechanisms for quality assurance and control. Whereas university
autonomy and academic freedom only exist in principle, institutional mechanisms
of quality control have been weakened by the centrifugal forces of politics of
ethnic balancing. Although the contention is that the standard of education is
diminishing, attempts at improving the system’s dysfunctional ties have been
incremental hence Nigerian Universities are at the risk of losing their
competitive edge. Many nations in Africa recognize the fact that sustainable
development can be attained only when a functional system of education exists,
thus, a higher level of education is a sine qua-non for upward social and
economic mobility in recent times.
Therefore, the Nigerian government should also formulate and implement
people-oriented policies that will reduce widespread poverty. Selective-user
charges should also be introduced to make the wealthy pay more for university
education.
Realizing
that education is the spark plug for development, Nigeria adopted policies and
programmes that are inclined to the Social Demand Approach to the supply of
education. It was for the same reason that in 1979, university education was
placed on the concurrent list in the Nigerian Constitution. This provision
marked the genesis of the establishment of private universities in Nigeria. The
rationale for establishing state universities was essentially political because
of the entrenched quota system tradition in Nigeria, which is driven by
politics of ethnic balancing rather than merit. Some state universities were established
to reflect the federal character and to bridge the huge demand-supply gap.
There was a feeling that candidates from the Southern part of the country were
denied places in universities outside their catchments areas. There is today an
increasing demand for university education, which the existing universities
cannot accommodate. Therefore, private universities were established to
accommodate the increasing demand for places in existing institutions. It is
evident that the government alone cannot provide the much needed university
education to the teeming applicants seeking places yearly, hence the involvement of private sectors .The
Private universities is owned by individuals or corporate bodies. The corporate
bodies are mostly religious organizations. Private universities are wholly
funded by the proprietors hence they do not benefit from the NUC government
grants. Nevertheless, the private sectors have been licensed to complement
governmental efforts at providing university education to the masses. Today,
there are 32 private universities i
A
fundamental justification for the emergence of private universities in the late
1990 is the rising index of unsatisfied demand.
Statement
of the Problem
Although,
public universities have dominated the higher landscape in Nigeria for several
decades, their failure to cope with admission pressures became more critical
which then made the public supply of higher education fall far short of the
demand. More so, it has been observed that the
public university system in Nigeria is characterized by incessant industrial unrest, poor funding, high
students’ wastage, huge unsatisfied demand-supply gap and lack of critical
educational. However, the contention is that the standard of education is diminishing
and the attempts at improving the system’s dysfunctionalites have been
incremental. Hence, Nigerian universities are at the risk of losing their
competitive edge.
The
presence study probably became more relevant in order to ensure quality, access
and equity in education provision in private institutions through coordinated
and concerted efforts of all stake holders necessitated the present study
titled: Privatization of University Education and Quality Service Delivery.
Purpose of the study
The study is
aimed at investigating the following:
To
ascertain why students choose to pursue their university education in a private
university.
1. To
determine, if privatization improves the quality of education in Nigeria.
2. To
assess the level of adequacy of physical and material resources in
institutions.
3. To
ascertain the level of quality service delivery in private universities.
4. To
determine, how qualified, adequate and experienced are teachers in the private
institutions.
5. To
ascertain the quality the product of private institutions.
Research Questions
The study is
framed to answer the following four research questions:
1. What
influences Nigerian students’ decisions to pursue private university education?
2. Does
privatization improves the quality of education in Nigeria?
3. How
do students in private universities view their experiences in their school?
4. What
is the level of quality service delivery in private Universities in Nigeria?
5. How
qualified, adequate and experienced are teachers in the private university?
6. What
is the quality of student in the private institutions?
Significance of the study
This
research attempts to expand on the limited amount of literature presently
available on university education in Nigeria. Specifically, it contributes to
the discussion of the critical factors that affect students’ decisions in choosing
a private university education institution as well as their perceptions of the
quality of the private university education sector. Given an understanding of
students’ personal experiences of satisfaction and dissatisfaction in private
university education settings, the leaders in higher education institution as
well as their perceptions of the quality of the private higher education
sector. Public and private alike, would be better aware of their students’
needs and points of view as stakeholders. Thus, they might respond by designing
appropriate courses, programmes, and services to meet students’ needs. Having
such knowledge would also inform those who want to enter and those who are
already in the business of university education of the possible threats and
opportunities in the competitive environment of university education in
Nigeria.
The
findings of this research will also allow policy makers in higher education to
be better informed as well as aware of the new role of private sector of higher education in Nigeria as seen through
the lens of student`s’ perceptions. This should help them to formulate,
implement and modify educational policy for the expansion of the higher
education system at large, while hopefully avoiding past experiences with both
development and destruction at the same time. Above all, the findings would
help contribute to the future growth, development and significance of private
sector of higher education in Nigeria.
Limitation of the study
The
major limitation of this study was time and financial constraint which then
resulted into the coverage of limited areas.
Definition of important Terms
These
are words specially used for the purpose of this study including:
Academic Performance - this is the
extent to which student have performed in academics. The outcome of learner’s
performances after learning and writing test.
Privatization- this implies applying
market principles in the operation and management of university education.
Quality- this is the distinctive
characteristics or attribute.
Deregulation of Education- this implies breaking the government’s
monopoly of the provision and management of education by giving free hand to
private participation in the provision and management of education in the
country. Caldwell and Spinks (1992) argued that the deregulation of education will
help schools to become self-managing.
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