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| Covenant University |
The poor
international ranking of Nigerian universities has nothing to do with the
intellectual capacity of lecturers and students, but their inability to manage
resources effectively, as well as the non-application of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge in learning and research. The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa'i,
has said.
Rufa'i made
this known while inaugurating the first online universities programme
accreditation portal at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cross River State,
which cost the Federal Government more than N500 million to build.
According to
her, Nigerian universities have the infrastructure, which some universities in
the western world lack, but since modern
learning is e-based, Nigerian universities are still lagging behind. She said
the government is addressing the problem by providing portals in universities
to facilitate learning and internet research.
The
facility, which can accommodate 36,000 students, was provided by the National Universities Commission (NUC),
under its pilot programme. It would be replicated in other federal universities
in the country.
Rufa'i said
the portal would "kick start an ICT revolution in the administration of
our universities. Nigerians should stop lamenting that universities in the
country are poorly rated in Africa in particular and the world in general. We
know that the poor rating is not due to lack of the required intellectual
capacity, but basically due to poor management of the resources in our
institution and our inability to use the internet.
"This
project is therefore a bold step towards building world-class universities in
Nigeria. The management of our university system will definitely not be the
same again. The initiative is in line with the agenda of President Goodluck
Jonathan."
The minister
reiterated the Federal Government's resolve to develop ICT that would
facilitate effective management of the system, adding that the programme was a
product of NUC's data base project established by the Federal Government in
2008 to help enforce the laws establishing and sensitising the university
system.
In his
remarks, Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof, Julius Okojie, explained that since
the world is advancing fast in internet usage and application of ICT knowledge,
the commission had to impress it on the university system to become internet compliant.
He said the portal is a new initiative aimed at fully automating the
accreditation of universities' academic programmes.
"But we
are aware of the problem we have and that is why the NUC has continued to mount
pressure on universities; we must move forward to get our work properly done
and faster by deploying proper ICT setting. But we have a shortcoming- the
issue of capacity building; here we are, new challenges, new opportunities; we
must surmount them."
Okojie
further said that the commission would interact with development partners and
evolve public private partnership to encourage the university system to grow.
Speaking
at a one-day workshop on online universities programme accreditation portal
usage, Vice-Chancellor of UNICAL, Prof. James Epoke, said the university
community was happy to host the workshop at the time "the universities
system in Nigeria was at the lower rung of the ranking scale."
He thanked
the minister for her support, which he said "has brought us a lot of
leverage such as our inclusion in the special intervention from TETFUND." The
minister was also at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, where she launched
the Nigerian universities electronic teaching and learning platform, which
seeks to support the universities to produce more and better graduates and
research output."
"It is
an ICT-enabled interactive teaching and learning concept, whose main focus is
to develop 'smart' classrooms that use technology to overcome the challenge of
large classes, aid modern methods of teaching and learning and content
development using interactive tools."She said the project, which was
provided by NUC, would serve as "a pool of interactive whiteboards with
networking capabilities; high resolution audio-visual teaching aids; capacity
development on modern methods of teaching and learning and electronic content
development; and a pool of electronic clipart resources."
A total
of 12 universities, one federal and one state-owned from each of the six
geo-political zones of the country would benefit from the first phase of the
programme.
THISDAY
Nigeria