Every time one listens or reads the news, an American or European university is busy unlocking the secrets of nature, and making their countries great in the process.
Either in a field as technologically sophisticated as in space exploration or of mundane issues like the age of prehistoric animals or why grasshoppers jump so high, these universities keep themselves and their nations at the forefront of intellectual greatness.
Recently, a university was awarded a sum of half a billion dollars for patent infringement!!
In most instances, Nigerian universities, even the older ones, are hardly mentioned in the fields of new discoveries, even within our own African context. No wonder our universities are rated poorly among the world's top universities.
I believe that our universities can be a catalyst for our economic emergence because we have the best brains and talent in our institutions.
Here are some suggestions that can work to make our universities great:
FREEDOM: Presently, we really have one university with branches all over the nation. The head of the university is at Abuja and have representatives in all the universities acting as Vice Chancellors. These VC's seem not to be able to deviate from the dictates of Abuja. Even the private universities do not make admission decisions outside of JAMB. Our fear of corruption seems to delimit the abilities of the universities to make decisions that may benefit the local communities in which they are located. This should not be the case.
BUSINESS ORIENTATION: Each of our university professors, lecturers and even the students must be seen as potential business people, wanting to engage their talents in creating new things and new was of doing things. This means they must be actually involved in areas of economic growth for the nation – AND FOR THEMSELVES.
CHALLENGE: Our universities are not challenged enough. Our governments, private industry and even philanthropists must throw challenges at our universities in all areas of human endeavor.
INTERNALLY REOGARNISED: Our universities should only set minimum requirements in terms of what a student needs to graduate. Other than this, a student should be free to take courses in any area of human endeavor as he finds beneficial. This means that if a student studying electronics wants be able to specialize in handling and repairing instruments used in chemistry, he should be allowed to take as many courses in chemistry to give him the expertise he needs.
COMPETITIVE: Other than the national rankings that we see on the pages of newspapers, we do not really know what a particular university is doing academically to deserve its preeminence.
PUBLICISE THEMSELVES: Really, the only times we hear of our universities is when they are offering admissions to new students. Our universities need to do a better job to make the public aware of their relevance within their communities and beyond.
SEEK FOR UNIQUENESS: Each of our universities must seek for some form of uniqueness besides granting degrees to students. This means that while one university may build a reputation for forecasting the weather patterns, another may specialize in polling, etc.
Each of our universities is a repository if unique talents. We must use these talents for our economic emergence.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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