Ex-UNILAG VC, 25 Others Write on Tertiary Education Management

Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Akoka, Prof. Tolu Odugbemi, and over 25 scholars from different universities across Nigeria have co-authored a book, titled, ‘A Practical Approach to Contemporary Tertiary Education Management in Nigeria.’

The book’s production and publication were sponsored by the General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Dr Daniel Olukoya, and was edited by Odugbemi and Prof. Taiwo Ipaye.

In his foreword, Olukoya explained that the book undertook a holistic, multi-dimensional approach to tertiary education in Nigeria, covering critical administration, financial equity, and library services the challenges in postgraduate research, ethical issues, and the on-going tide of the health sector.

He advised that the book should be celebrated for the laudable contributions it made to the discourse on repositioning Nigeria’s educational system for global relevance in the 21st century.

Olukoya said: “Tertiary education has a pride of place the world over due to the universal acknowledgment that it is a veritable vehicle for engendering a society’s socioeconomic growth and overall development. In spite of the myriads of challenges besetting the industry, stakeholders in Nigeria’s education sector ought not to relent in their attempts at strengthening the nation’s education system.

“It is, therefore, against this backdrop that this book, ‘A Practical Approach to Contemporary Tertiary Education Management in Nigeria,’ should be celebrated for the laudable contribution it makes to the discourse on repositioning Nigeria’s educational system for global relevance in the 21st century.”

He added that the author of Chapter nine, of the book, “Strategic Marketing Plan to Enhance Tertiary Education Institutions in Nigeria for Patronage by Other Countries,” argued that tertiary education was a product that needed to be marketed like any other product.

The foreword added: “For tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria to attract the patronage of other countries, it is important that they adopt the right marketing approach to meet the needs of their users and meet up with global educational standards.”

Olukoya further said: “Chapter two makes a case for university administrators, demonstrating clearly that the university system cannot function effectively without their critical contributions, especially in the areas of policy formulation, planning, organisation and implementation. What should education look like in this 21st-century post-COVID-19 era? This is the question that Chapter three attempts to answer.

“For the author, the syllabus and learning journey must be designed to be more immersive than academic, more concerned about application and cross-fertilisation rather than theory. Chapter 4 dwells on the processes of selection of staff and appointments to the different positions in a university – processes which, unfortunately, have been stymied by ethnicity, nepotism, institutional and state politics, and outright corruption. No doubt, the glaring outcome is an incapacitated system that is unable to fulfill the expected objectives through an efficient and effective workforce.”