Challenges of Tertiary Education and the Emergence of TETFund in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the challenges of tertiary education and emergence of TETFund with the objectives of identifying them and to show how they have affected the delivery of quality education in Nigeria over the years. The paper relies on secondary sources of data and employed content analysis and documentary evidences for its analysis. The Human Development Capital Theory (HCDT) was adopted as a theoretical framework of analysis. The finding of the paper reveals that education in Nigeria belongs to the concurrent list which allows for funding from all the three tiers of government. However, the challenges arising from the inadequate funding necessitates the creation of Tertiary Education Trust Fund Initially Education Trust Fund to serve as intervention agency in the tertiary education sector. The major problems identified in Nigeria's tertiary education were inadequate funding, poor welfare and bad condition of service, brain drain, deteriorating infrastructures, industrial disharmony, corruption and embezzlement, cultism and violence, lack of commercialization of knowledge, and poor registration of intellectual property rights among others. The paper concludes that Nigeria needs to invest in its human capital for national transformation and sustainable development. It recommends adequate funding in line with UNESCO benchmark, amending TETFund Act to increase its funding from 3% to 5%, linking the education sector to industry, and registration of intellectual property rights for national image, global education ranking, and opportunities.