As it stands, 20 polytechnics and colleges of education have been converted into universities primarily by state governors, the Senate and the federal government.
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and education reform activists, however, said the move would “bury” technical education.
The proliferation of universities in the country has recently been criticized by governors and members of the National Assembly.
Due to a lack of funds for the sustainability of the existing institutions, the Academic Staff Union of Universities warned against the establishment of new universities.
Due to the role these two cadres play in producing middle-level workers, experts argue that the trend of upgrading polytechnics and colleges of education to universities is worrisome.
As part of the country’s socio-economic development, polytechnic education provides technical and vocational training, technology transfer, and skill development. According to the National Policy on Education, colleges of education are responsible for producing skilled teachers for vocational and technical secondary schools in order to meet the nation’s needs for technological development.
Seyi Makinde, the governor of Oyo State, announced recently that the state-owned Emmanuel Alayande College of Education would be upgraded to a university of education.
The immediate past governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, announced earlier that the Osun State College of Education, Ilesha, would be converted into a university.
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, announced the conversion of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education and the Michael Otedola College of Education into the Lagos State University of Education.
Also announced by the governor was the upgrade of the Lagos State Polytechnic to the Lagos State University of Science and Technology.
Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was upgraded to a university in March by the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal.
Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Delta State, announced in 2021 the conversion of the College of Education, Agbor, into the Delta State University of Education, and the Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, into the Delta State University of Science and Technology.
Also affected are the Abia State Polytechnic, the Abia State College of Education, the Abia State College of Health Sciences and Management Studies, the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, the Federal Polytechnic, Ofa, the Yaba College of Technology, and the Kaduna State Polytechnic.
While the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, noted that upgrading the institutions to universities was aimed at increasing citizen access to university education, ASUP’s National President, Dr Anderson Ezeibe, said it was a frivolous upgrade and a sign of a lack of consistency among proprietors of public polytechnics.
As Ezeibe noted, polytechnics were established to develop professionals in technical/technological and vocational education, which should serve the national manpower needs in this regard. This is why the practical component of the curricula for polytechnics is higher as they are expected to produce people with hands-on expertise. Universities do not provide this kind of training.
In the case of the Lagos State Government on its path to conversion, the question is whether the need for such manpower has been met. Due to discrimination against polytechnics, their products, and the rustic and anachronistic policies of the government on degree-awarding status for polytechnics, enrolment figures across polytechnics are dropping as a result of the poorly thought out conversion.
ASUP’s president raised the alarm about the future of that level of tertiary education.
As the future of the polytechnics is at stake, our union is crying out for it. We believe that allowing polytechnics to become degree-awarding institutions will resolve all of these issues: satisfy the need for degree-level certification, deepen technical/technological education by developing curricula, retain the growing pool of qualified manpower in polytechnics, attract funding, and end the HND/degree dichotomy.
We propose that polytechnics retain OND certification as middle-level manpower and use it as feed for a bachelor of technology degree to be awarded in their name as polytechnics if all requirements are met.”
The nation’s leaders do not understand the philosophy behind the institutions, said education reform activist Ayodamola Oluwatoyin.
The philosophy of polytechnics is to produce practical-oriented graduates who will go to the workplace and hit the ground running, while colleges of education focus on teaching, however our country doesn’t appreciate that approach. There were more than 600 polytechnics in China in 2018, he said.
