Funding still major challenge in varsities- Vice-Chancellors

The Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) decries inadequate funding as one of the major challenges militating against effective growth and the global ranking of public universities in Nigeria.

The Secretary-General of CVCNU, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, in Abuja on Thursday at a “Workshop for Advancement and Alumni Officers," said there was a need for cost-sharing based on what was required to train a student at the university.

The event, which had the theme “Institutional Advancement, Alumni Relations, and University Education in Nigeria,” was organised by CVCNU in collaboration with the Conference of Alumni Association of Nigerian Universities (CAANU).

He disclosed that the committee was able to come up with figures about what was required to train a student at a university, including public universities.

He noted that there were still gaps in the cost-sharing ratio between the government and the individual student.

According to him, to train one medical student in a university takes about N5 billion, even in public universities.

“To train one medical student in a university costs about N5 billion; even in a public university, it costs about N5 billion. So what is the cost-sharing ratio between the government and individuals in public universities?

“So, if the government wants to take responsibility for the training of the students, it should pay the 5 billion naira so the university can use it to run its operations. You cannot give a vice chancellor N3 million and say go and manage.

“So, the quality of what you put in, just like the proverbial ‘better soup na money kill am’, is what we are talking about. And we see it happening right before our own eyes,” he said.

Ochefu admitted that the government alone could not fund education.

He added that the workshop was organised as part of efforts to harness the potential of alumni of various institutions across the country as well as non-university organisations or individuals as a huge alternative source of funding for Nigerian universities.

“At the level of the committee of vice chancellors, we discussed various challenges that are facing the Nigerian university system, and we realised very quickly that our relations with persons or institutions that are not within our ecosystem are not as strong as they should be.

“The type of strategic partnerships that we have with industry, the type of strategic partnerships we have with foreign organisations, at the donor level, and others are not as strong as they should be.

“Though we have these offices in place, many of them are not calibrated to work together to deliver what we refer to as global best practise in terms of how universities can benefit from relationships with non-university persons,” he said.

Ochefu said the CVCNU, in partnership with CAAN, decided to bring some specialists to come and share insights on what was needed to be done to leverage the potential of the alumni association and other non-university persons for enhanced development of the university system in Nigeria.

The Vice-Chancellor of Joseph Tarka University, Makurdi, Prof. Isaac Itodo, who was also the immediate past Vice-Chairman of CAANU, said the workshop was organised not only to interrogate the roles of alumni association desk officers but to redefine their roles for positive delivery.

He, therefore, said that the time had come to revisit the activities of alumni associations because they were major stakeholders in every institution.

According to him, there is a need to get them to take ownership of their respective institutions.