Professional bodies, corporate drive infrastructure investment in higher education
Poor physical infrastructure for teaching and learning in institutions of higher learning in Nigeria and the aftermath effect of poorly trained graduates may have forced professional bodies and corporate organisations to commit investment in both human and infrastructure capacity to stem this tide, BusinessDay finding have revealed.
With Nigeria’s unemployment rate at 24 percent and employers constantly challenged by shortage of qualified graduates, industry watchers see this involvement as a welcome development.
Professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), as part of strategies to strengthen the training of skilled graduates, have committed millions of naira to build infrastructure in selected tertiary institutions across the country to assist in retooling students to be employable.
Chidi Onyeukwu Ajaegbu, ICAN president in his assessment of this new move explained that the involvement of professional bodies like ICAN in developing infrastructure for institutions of higher learning is aimed at supporting the aspirations of the students and creating conducive atmosphere for learning with a view to producing highly skilled graduates in Nigerian Universities.
Ajaegbu new project is the next step in the Institute’s scheme of developmental initiatives borne out of its desire to address the problem of poor performance of students.
“Over the years, the Governing Council of the Institute has observed with dismay the poor performance of candidates at the Institute’s examinations due largely to poor academic background of students, lack of good tuition, poor and inadequate preparations, and dearth of good learning materials.
He observes that with investment in this state of the art infrastructure, it will boost academic research and other form of learning which a critical step is in the strategic process to encourage fresh thinking, and stimulate new perspectives that could proactively impact on producing employable graduate.
A recent report by Association of African Universities (AAU) conference reveals that good academic qualifications are not enough for employability stressing that graduates need to also have other attributes and competencies often referred to as ‘soft’ skills.
The report observes that graduates can no longer expect to be employed in just one sector throughout their professional life. They will need to be imparted with skills that enable them to adapt to different situations as they move from one job to another.
Linkages between universities, professional bodies and corporate organisations in the view of Olufemi Bamiro a professor of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Technology University of Ibadan is a welcome development because when taken in its wider sense, can be enormously helpful in facilitating the employment of graduates.
Bamiro insist that higher education institutions need to run programmes that are relevant to their country’s needs and to provide the necessary skills to their students to facilitate their eventual employment.
He observes that the involvement of professional bodies from business and industry sector in the provision of state of the art facility not only make up for the acute shortage of facility, but it also helps students to be exposed to the practical aspects of their studies, and provides them with a direct contact with industry.
“Indeed, many employers give greater importance to soft skills than qualifications. These skills include communication skills, analytical and problem-solving skills, team spirit, creativity and adaptability so enabling institution in these areas of training will promote employment among graduating students,” he said
Industry watchers observe that the private sector is currently leading the global trend in employment expansion and wealth creation stressing that with government policy support there will be smooth interface for public-private partnerships between the government and the private sector.
Emmanuel Ajisegiri, an industry expert pointed out that Government’s failure, over the years, to fortify university education system in terms of funding, autonomy and provision of basic needs on campus gave speedy rise current situation the country is experiencing in public education.
While providing solutions to the situation, he posited that there is the need to do a gap analysis of where we are and where we ought to be and implement a plan to bridge the gap.
“Such linkages between professional bodies in training students in higher institution are vital since the quality of university products is important for the entire workforce that contributes to the growth of the economy.
KELECHI EWUZIE