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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Global Trends in Higher Education Reform: What Lessons for Nigeria?
Author:Adesina, Jimi O.ISNI
Year:2006
Periodical:Journal of Higher Education in Africa (ISSN 0851-7762)
Volume:4
Issue:1
Pages:1-23
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Nigeria
West Africa
Africa
Subjects:higher education
educational financing
educational policy
Education and Oral Traditions
education
Higher education and state
Educational change
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/43658256
Abstract:The crisis that engulfed the higher education sector in many developing countries from the mid-1970s in many ways epitomized a much wider socioeconomic and political crisis. In much of Africa the balance of payments crisis compounded an uneasy relationship between the rulers and academia. However, addressing the crisis in the 1980s was defined by the emergent neoliberal mindset. It was also an ideological posture that saw the academy as a domain of a 'leftist leisure class' that needed market discipline. Education as a public good was replaced by a commodity logic. What lessons are there for higher education reform in Nigeria? First, in spite of the neoliberal claims, successful countries show strong commitment to education as a public good and tend to invest heavily in their higher education sector, especially in endogenous research and development. The second point is that experiments with the commodity approach in both its provisioning of skilled human resources and internal relations have proved to be counter-productive. Thirdly, in situations of prolonged decline and decay, what needs rebuilding is more than just the infrastructure but also the ethos and ethics of academia. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract, edited]
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