ABUJA – The Association of Vice Chancellors, Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) on Tuesday called for the reintroduction of Higher School Certificate as a requisite entry qualification to universities.
This is contained in a communiqué issued by Prof. Michael Faborode, Secretary-General of the association in Abuja.
The communiqué was issued at the end of the 29th Annual Conference of the association, held at the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, with the theme, “Pathway to Sustainable Education in Nigeria’’.
According the communiqué, the reintroduction of the higher school certificate will ensure that only matured students are admitted into universities.
It attributed the non-sustainability of university education in Nigeria to inadequate funding, inefficient fund utilisation, poor infrastructure facilities, security challenges, strikes, among others.
The communiqué stated that the participants expressed the need for sustainable development of the university system.
It stated that it was time for Nigerian universities to move up to the level of entrepreneurial universities in the knowledge-based global economy with focus on research and innovation.
The association said the global community ranked Nigeria universities low because of lack of enabling environment, low morale among academic staff and poor teaching and research culture.
It called for concerted efforts to assist and support universities to realise their vision and mission of attaining full autonomy.
The communiqué stated that the appointment university council members should be based on merit and integrity, and that the universities must be given free-hands to chart their own academic programmes.
The association called for the amendment of the Education Tax Act, to enable private universities to benefit from TETFUND and funds from donor agencies of government.
It recommended that there should be nexus between industries and universities and an effective public-private partnership aimed at mobilising resources to drive academic and research activities in the universities.
The association urged universities to evolve mechanism to ensure that teachers’ were committed to their duties and that students changed their attitude to class work, attendance and research. (NAN)