its dynamic
nature, change
is a constant
feature in
human
activities.
Consequently,
organizations
are usually challenged to find ways and means of
adapting to the inevitable impact of the forces of
change. Since the last century, society has been
under a constant state of flux due to the forces of
globalization and the information and
communication technology. Leading organizations
in the developed parts of the world, have adopted
numerous ways of coping with these forces. The
learning organization concept or higher education
is one of such ways is seen as a response to an
increasingly unpredictable and dynamic business
environment. Learning is a process of acquiring
new knowledge, skills and capabilities. Learning
organization therefore is one which is skilled at
creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge,
and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new
knowledge and insights.
The core object of higher education is the
continuous effort in transferring current and
relevant knowledge to knowledge seekers for the
advancement of the society. This means that
higher educational approach in any society is in
response to, both, the peculiarities' of the society,
and the global standard of the business (cutting-
edge). For example, a war-torn country is more
disposed to developing an educational policies,
structure, philosophy and curriculum that is pro-
poor, national unification, rehabilitation and
reconstruction, nay development-oriented than the
country that is already at an advanced level of
development whose educational policies,
philosophy, structures and curriculum are
preoccupied with the object of producing self-
sufficient individuals that would survive in about
any situation and acclimatize seamlessly to any
condition.
In Nigeria, the development of higher education is
no exception. During the period just after the
political independence in 1960, the task facing the
country was enormous. There was an urgent need
to transform the country from the debris of
colonialism, to fight the battle of
underdevelopment, and the urgent need to assert
the proof of qualification to self-governance. This is
not also without the focus on unification as Nigeria
managed to survive the outbreak of a civil war a
decade after. These historical peculiarities had
provided the colorful theme in the juxtaposition of
educational policies, philosophies, curriculum and
administration during the first two decades after
political independence in Nigeria. Thus, the guiding
principle was the training of persons to acquire the
requisite skills, leadership qualities and
commitment for national development, integration
and liberal humanism. Therefore, in direct
proportion to this notion of public good (education),
government built and funded educational
institutions to actualize broad objectives which was
stated in the National Policy on Education to
include; respect for the worth and dignity of
individual; faith in man's ability to make rational
decisions; shared responsibility for the common
good of the society; and respect for the dignity of
labour. This period, represented the epoch in
Nigeria's education history when graduates were
presumed to be outputs from an intermediary
stage of production (educational institutions) to
becoming inputs to the tertiary stage of production
(government services, corporate outfits etc.). This
era of educational philosophy was fairly successful
in Nigeria. This is because; it produced core elites
with requisite skills and capabilities. Also, there
was manageable number of higher institutions of
learning which translates to the provision of
manpower adequately enough for the absorption of
employers' industries.
Subsequently, in the period after 1980, due to the
explosion in population, not only has the demand
for higher education tremendously increased the
number of higher education institutions also
increased but not without a disparity with the
demand for higher education. The number of
college-aged children consistently rose, the
government responded by liberalizing the laws
guiding the provision and operation of higher
institutions. In an attempt to meet up with the
growing demand for higher education, the Nigerian
government demonopolized the provision of higher
education to accommodate private entrepreneurs
who are willing to invest in the sector, thus, the
birth of private universities. In addition, the
existing institutions embarked on a thoughtless
journey to ameliorate the social problem of high
demand for higher education in Nigeria through the
dangerous path of admitting more students than
the capacities of the institutions. Universities and
other higher institutions of learning became
overpopulated, in the face of plummeting academic
standard and obsolete infrastructure. Alas, the
proliferation of higher institutions in Nigeria and
the admission of more students than the
institutional capacities of the various universities
could accommodate failed to tackle this social
menace and to launch Nigeria into the path of
modernization. Apparently, this is evidenced in the
constantly reducing quality of the constantly
increasing number of graduates since the wake of
the 80s.
As a corollary, there exists a mismatch in the
quantity and quality of universities' outputs (what
most people refer to, now, as unemployable
graduates) and the labor demands of employers'
industries (both public and private). The difference
between the absorbed graduates and the total
number of graduates, which is constantly
increasing, is the number of unemployed
graduates. Thus, another serious social problem of
unemployment emerges.
The Nigerian government was, now, challenged
with the twin problem of providing the social
service- education for the increasing number of
college-aged children, and tackling the antagonist
of economic development- unemployment.
Unfortunately, these problems have, however,
managed to survive to the present day Nigeria.
This is because there has been no deliberate
attempt to address their original causes. While
Nigeria now has sufficient manpower to champion
her course of development, the educational
philosophy, policies, structures, curriculum, and
pattern of administration remains majorly
unchanged.
Globalization has affected the whole character of
education all around the world. Higher institutions
of learning around the world, now, focus on the
individual to produce a knowledge-worker with
adaptable and flexible skills requisite for survival in
the present competitive world. The object of higher
institutions of learning in contemporary world is to
produce an entrepreneurial output as a graduate
who relies upon himself to survive; who is willing to
create values and wealth to enrich the wealth of
the nation; who is neither an intermediary output
in production stages, nor another statistic in the
market of unemployment. This means that
educational institutions should not simply feed the
factories and the employers of labor. It should
instead undertake that task as part of the more all-
embracing one of serving the advancement of the
society by applying its critical and creative arsenal
of generating ideas, creating innovative mental and
physical tools and training the creative minds
needed for the continuous regeneration of the
society. Nigeria has, objectionably, endured an
unhealthy mix between the old and the new
systems. Whereas, there is a tenacious cling by the
higher institutions of learning to the principles,
curriculum, philosophies and administrative
patterns of the developmentalist Nigeria's
education epoch, current government policies are
formulated to accommodate the principles,
assumptions and features of contemporary higher
institutions of learning around the world. With the
dearth presence of infrastructure to implement the
cutting-edge policies of government, there would
almost be unending bickering between the
government and the unions of education service
providers in Nigeria.
Education is not a favor done to the people of a
country by the government, but a favor done to the
government and the country itself, because an
educated populace is relatively easy to govern but
difficult to cheat, relatively easy to lead but difficult
to enslave, and is not easily drawn to groups that
promises total and revolutionary change rather
than incremental and evolutionary change.
Education instills values and good traits of
character in individuals so that they can fulfill their
social roles more properly. Therefore, the
government which is desirous of a prosperous
nation should constantly update the provision of
educational services to meet up with the fast
changing world.
At the level of individuals, higher education should
not be seen as a necessary ritual and a requisite for
express employment, but as a transformation
agent. In 1990, a scholar called Senge, defined a
higher institution of learning as a place 'where
people continually expand their capacity to
create the results they truly desire, where
new and expansive patterns of thinking are
nurtured, where collective aspiration is set
free, and where people are continually
learning how to learn together' . Therefore,
there should be concerted effort by the students to
optimally utilize the, though, inadequate facilities
to maximize their potentials. Reasons, no matter
how grand, superior, and/or tenable, can never
qualify failure as success. Acquire versatility by
diversifying your sources of intellectual armories.
As another scholar in 2004 named Odetunde said
in Nigeria, unfortunately, today's students
are learning in dilapidated buildings,
environmentally depressing and learning
disabling conditions, and yet, some of these
students are excelling. This is an eloquent
testimony that academic excellence is not totally
an institutional factor but also through individual
determination. Therefore, there is an urgent need
to eschew the rather unflattering remark about our
higher institutions of learning as "certificate
fabricating industries" which are attended to fulfill
all righteousness. This will give way to a positive
attitude towards the institutions of learning in
Nigeria and will rupture the encumbering
membrane of passion and intellectual enthusiasm
among the Nigerian populace if we must survive in
this increasingly unpredictable and dynamic
business world.
Sent From David Aniemeka
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