CURRENT ISSUES FACED BY NIGERIA HIGHER EDUCATION

Education is a proof for effective national development.Education can be defined as production reproduction of knowledge of peoples way of life with the aim of preserving and maintaining the social structure that will be able to guarantee social order and changes In that society.

Higher education can simply be refer to as post secondary education where degree,diploma or certificate us awarded by the end of study.
Higher education builds on skills or knowledge acquired in secondary education.
In (2004)) National policy on education defines higher education as the post secondary section of the National education system which include universities,polytechnics,colledge of health,college of education,college of technology.

Higher education in Nigeria has 7 important goals,in which the National policy on education document specified how these goals will be implemented by higher educational institutions in Nigeria .These goals include
1 Promotion of national and international understanding and interaction
2 promote and encourage scholarship and community services
3 promotion of national unity.
4 Contribute to national development through high level relevant man power training
5 To develop and inculcate proper values for survival of the individual and society.
6 TO develop the intellectual capability of individuals to understand and appreciate their local and external environment.
7 To acquire both physical and intellectual skills which enable useful member of the society.

This write up examine the current issues faced by Nigeria higher education,prominent among these issues are as follow

1 ISSUES OF AUTONOMY: Autonomy in Nigeria Tertiary institutions is an age-long debate in which the Government usually frowns at such debates on the ground that says “he who pays the piper dictates the tune” Meaning, that the person who pays for something has the right to decide what it will be like .The degree of autonomy in tertiary institutions is dependent on the level of administrative control, financial dependency academic freedom, which relates to control .In Nigeria today the Educational system has faced series of challenges such as inadequate funding, inadequate infrastructure and facilities and inadequate manpower, also the issue of effectiveness of the university system in Nigeria been of concern to all Nigerians mostly the students. The issue of Autonomy has been a great issue between government and The academic staff union of universities (ASUU) get Nigerian concerned . An effort to obtain an institutional Autonomy has been a long standing-issues in Nigeria Tertiary institutions.Asuu has been vehement in the demand of Autonomy in Nigeria varsities,so as to enable the institutions in the country take clue from global trends. Autonomy in Nigeria institutions has become a difficult task to accomplish as a result of government ownership of Tertiary in Nigeria. It has been incomprehensible for government to hands off its control of its investment. It is noteworthy that in a policy document for higher education in Nigeria, the terms autonomy and academic freedom cannot be divorced from each other. Academic freedom constitute the ” heart of a university” University Autonomy is to guarantee academic freedom,which is important to universities. Another example of university Autonomy is the control of admission and centralization by the joint admission and matriculation board (JAMB), which is controlled by the government where we have series of admission list which is not base on merit only buy also based on catchment area, educationally distavantages. For full academic autonomy, it would necessary to float and fold powers of these agencies to control academic and to determine and maintain academic standards and each institutions should be given the authority to determine student enrolment, criteria and modalities

2 ACADEMIC FREEDOM: The term academic freedom simply means the freedom of teachers, students, and academic institutions to pursue knowledge wherever it may lead, without undue or unreasonable interference.Academic freedom covers the protection of the intellectual independence of teachers, professors, lecturers researchers and students in pursuit of knowledge form interference by legislative and authorities of the institution, In some cases academic freedom was limited to classroom alone and did not extend to the public sphere or also prevent teachers or lecturers to speak out on topics outside of thier scholarly specialization.

3 RELEVANCE OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM AND PROGRAMME: In a broad sense curriculum is refer to as the “inventory of activities implemented to design, organize and plan an education or training action, including definition of learning objectives, content, methods (including assessment) and material, as well as arrangements for training teachers and trainers.It is also a broad programme of activities designed by the government or schools in order to help to promote the goals and objectives of education.The need for prompts review or relevance of a school curriculum by the government is highly recommended in view of the fact that modern technology and new technology can make a school curriculum outdated and that calls for a review in the curriculum.The idea of curriculum relevance in schools is to enable higher education more responsive to the value of the country atvhand to modify curriculum for both national or global demands.

PROFFERED SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS IN NIGERIA TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS