Carrying Capacity of Nigeria Tertiary Institutions

As at today (April 27, 2013); admission to Nigerian tertiary institutions is through the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The Study is undertaken to review and possibly proffer some solutions to the problem of access to tertiary education in Nigeria. Candidates are first tested by JAMB using the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination (UTME), following which individual institutions conduct Post-UME in order to select candidates that have chosen them for admission.

According to the UTME Brochure; candidates seek admission into Nigerian tertiary institution listed under the following categories: Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs) are institutions recently approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide a veritable alternative route to higher education. They are private institutions that will offer vocational, technical, technology or professional education and training at post-basic and tertiary levels to equip secondary school leavers and working adults with vocational skills and knowledge to meet the increasing demand for technical manpower by the various sectors of the nation's economy.. University Polytechnic/Monotechnic College of Education (COE) Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs)

Tertiary Institutions University Poly/Mono COEIEI Federal (40) State (38) Private (50) = 430

NUC: National Universities Commission NBTE: National Board for Technical Education NCCE: National Council for Colleges of Education No.Tertiary InstitutionRegulatory Body 1UniversityNUC 2 Polytechnic/Monotechnic, IEIs NBTE 3College of EducationNCCE These bodies regulates the activities of the respective tertiary institutions; one of which is determining the carrying capacity of each institution. Tertiary Institutions & Regulatory Bodies

By standard, these bodies are supposed to have all data of their respective institutions; however, Data are not easy to come by. See comment from World Bank: Therefore, the data used here are best efforts gathered from different sources – few from the regulatory bodies.

The regulatory bodies release Admission Quota per academic session in order to guide each institution on the number of Students to admit per course. Carrying Capacity: carrying capacity of institutions refers to the maximum number of students that the institution can sustain for quality education available based on human and material resources. However, over-enrollment is a common practice. Most institutions do not abide by their carrying capacity for reasons best known to them. This is often the reason why some students sit outside lecture halls and some on windows in order to receive lectures. Of a truth, our institutions are overcrowded!

University, Applicant & Carrying Capacity Year University Cumulative Applicant Carrying Capacity Capacity : Applicant 2010/111121,493,611450, % 2011/121171,503,933500, % 2012/131281,735,729520, % With 112 Universities in 2010/2011; the carrying capacity of Nigeria tertiary institutions was 450,000 with 1,493,611 applicants. This means at best effort only 30.13% of total applicants could only be accommodated during that academic sessions. However, this has dropped to 29.96% in 2012/2013 academic sessions. Even though the carrying capacity has increased, Applicants have increased more, this invariably has made the increase in university capacity insignificant.

Some University & Their Admission Quota The Admission Quota for each University during the 2011/2012 academic sessions was released by the NUC; however, most of the universities admitted more than allotted quota Federal Institution NUC Quota AdmissionDifference ABU6,6887, UNILAG6,5007,527-1,027 UNN5,9708,267-2,297 UI5,7202,9892,731 UNIMAID5,6005, UNIPORT5,5223,8201,702 UNILORIN5,5147,098-1,584 FUA, Makurdi2,1333,350-1,217 UMYU1,6001, FULokoja FUEbonyi FUBayelsa FUOye-ekiti ABU, admitted 7,397 Students instead of the recommended 6,688.

State Institution NUC Quota AdmissionDifference LASU5,2941,1034,191 EKSI3,5001,3002,200 ANSU2,5001,4081,092 CRUTECH2,5002, NSU2,5003, KASU1,4001, AISU OSUSTECH KWASU7251, Private InstitutionNUC QuotaAdmissionDifference TASUED3,5002, Covenant2,5002, Babcock2,3373,561-1,224 Benson Idahosa1, Afe Babalola1,2002,372-1,172 Ajayi Crowther1, Redeemers8001,

Deviation From Carrying Capacity Compliance with carrying capacity (measured by the degree of deviation from carrying capacity): This indicator measures how well enrolment of the university matches available human and material resources. It is computed as Deviation from Carrying Capacity Carrying Capacity X 100% Institution NUC Quota Admission DifferenceDeviation Afe Babalola1,2002,3721, % KWASU7251, % Redeemers8001, % FUA, Makurdi2,1333,3501, % Babcock2,3373,5611, % UNN5,9708,2672, % UNILORIN5,5147,0981, % UMYU1,6001, % NSU2,5003, % UNILAG6,5007,5271, % KASU1,4001, % CRUTECH2,5002, % ABU6,6887, % UNIMAID5,6005, %

While it is an established fact that most institutions exceed recommended quota; it is also evident that over 70% of candidates are denied admission yearly, even though they are qualified, there are just not enough space to accommodate them. For this 2012/2013 academic sessions where 1.7million jostle for 520,000 admission spaces; over 1.2million will be denied admission again. In reality, this is discouraging to Candidates, Parents and younger ones. While Governments (Federal & States) have made giant strides in creating Schools, it is also very important to increase the capacity and equip already existing ones.

Freely share use and acknowledge the source – © Wale Micaiah Data source: -JAMB -NUC -Professor Peter Okebukola Nigerian Universities and World Ranking: Issues, Strategies and Forward Planning (2011 Analysis by: Wale Micaiah e: m: b: walemicaiah.blog.com w.