Exploring the Factors That Affect Staff and Students' Perception of Quality of Tertiary Education in Nigeria: A Focus on Funding and Policy Implementation

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Perspectives on Local, State, and National Policy Implementation (Table 15)

Abstract

"Over the years, stakeholders in the education sector have been concerned about the need for quality education and adequate funding of tertiary education in Nigeria There have several efforts by governments at all levels in Nigeria to improve on the quality of education since education is on the exclusive legislative list. However, there have been controversy over the quality of education in Nigeria because of different parameters such as funding, policy, planning, employability, ranking etc used by stakeholders. The webometric ranking of Nigeria universities in the last three years (2020 – 2022) revealed no Nigerian universities found among the best one thousand (1000) universities in the world (Webometric, 2020, 2021, 2022). Relocation of many academics in search of greener pasture that directly leads to emigration of highly skilled professionals from the country has become the norm experienced by Nigeria educational system and more Nigerians prefer to study in other countries than to study in Nigeria tertiary institutions.
This study aims to explore the factors that affect staff and students' perception of quality tertiary education in Nigeria with a focus on funding and policy implementation and how its affect their perception of quality tertiary education.
Six research questions were generated and mixed method approach by quantitative and qualitative was used for the research. Three hundred and eight (308) students and employees from two (2) chosen academic institutions in Nigeria made up the sample size. A structured questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were used in the study to gather data. Quantitative data were analysed using statistical methods, while qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Empirical evidence on the relationship between funding, policy implementation, and perception of high-quality postsecondary education in Nigeria would be provided by the research findings."

Author

• Anike Olufunke Adeoye, University of Staffordshire