After about three decades of dearth of foreign students and lecturers in Nigerian universities due to poor funding and consequent fallen standards, the Technical University (Tech U), Ibadan’s new success in establishing an exchange programme and partnership with Texas Technical University (TTU), among others, raises hope of a restoration of the glorious old days of the Nigerian ivory tower, writes BISI OLADELE
A major breakthrough that is capable of transforming the quality of university education in Nigeria may have been achieved with the striking of an exchange and partnership deal between the Technical University (Tech U), Ibadan and the Texas Technical University (TTU), Lubbock, Texas, United States of America.
Tech U’s Vice Chancellor Prof. Ayobami Salami and the institution’s Pro-Chancellor Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe signed the agreement with the management of the TTU at the institution in Texas last month. The signing ceremony was the result of a six-year effort to get official commitment of the specialized American varsity to make the project a reality.
The Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration had conceived the idea of a technical university as exemplified by the TTU in 2012. After due consultations and a conclusion on the immense change the idea of a technical university will drive in Nigerian university education, the government, with the National Universities Commission (NUC), reached an agreement with the TTU to run hybrid degree programmes at Tech U, Ibadan beginning from 2013/2014 session. In the arrangement, Tech U students were to spend the first two years of their study in Ibadan and complete the remaining two or three years at TTU, if they desire. On graduation, their certificates were to read Tech U/TTU.
For graduating at TTU, the products were to be allowed to gain permission to stay back and work or proceed to higher degrees in the US. In the arrangement, Tech U curricula would include the core courses offered at TTU while members of the latter’s faculty were to come and teach Tech U students in Ibadan during their first two years of study.
But the full exchange programme hit the rocks the following year when TTU wrote to express concern over security of its staff while on exchange programme in Nigeria. It was at a time Boko Haram activities were reaching the peak. With its inability to fully guarantee the security of the American academics in view of the then prevailing security atmosphere, the Oyo State Government went back to the drawing board. Tech U was later inaugurated in 2017 and opened its door to students later in the year. It’s first set resumed academic activities in January, 2018.
Convinced that all hope was not lost, Salami and Ibidapo-Obe revisited the partnership project. Thankfully, the security situation has greatly improved. Several discussions eventually led to the signing of the new agreement last month.
In the new agreement which allows student exchange, staff and faculty of the two institutions will also collaborate on research and training programmes in Nigeria and Texas to strengthen what leaders of both institutions described as internationalization. Implementation of the partnership could start in the 2019/2020 session with TTU students coming for their six weeks internships in factories and institutions in Ibadan, Lagos and other places as may be facilitated by the Tech U. The latter may also emerge as the hub for TTU’s Study Abroad programme in Nigeria and other West African countries.
Tagged ‘Collaborative Agreement for Study Abroad and Research’ between students and staff of the two institutions, the partnership will afford students of Tech U to complete their degree programme at TTU and proceed to post graduate studies if they desire. TTU has an expansive campus spread across the major parts of Lubbock, a serene city in Texas, United States.
The partnership will also afford students and staff Tech U to participate in short and postgraduate programmes in which TTU has special capacity and competence.
TTU President (Vice Chancellor), Lawrence Schovance, said his institution was elated to expand scholarly activities to Nigeria through the partnership with Tech U.
Schovance, who is an engineering professor, explained that the partnership was another step forward in TTU’s goal of widening its international operations to ensure that its students and faculty enjoy international enrichment in their studies and research.
He pointed out that the partnership would bring great opportunities to both students and faculty of the two institutions. He added that Nigeria has now become a priority for TTU in its efforts at achieving global connections for studying, teaching and research.
Schovance said: “This partnership will bring opportunities for our students, for our faculty here and also in Nigeria. It’s a priority for Texas Tech to have its growth and connections; and so, we value them and we believe it will widen opportunities for our students and increase opportunities for research and collaboration for our faculty.
“For students who will come to Texas Tech, we will hope that beyond the academic experience, they will have a chance to enjoy the culture of the entire United States. They will have a better understanding of our country. Our students here , through interaction with Nigerian students, will also have a better understanding of the culture of Nigeria. And our students need that.”
Expressing satisfaction with the breakthrough, Tech U’s VC, Prof. Salami, explained that one of the goals of Tech U is to produce graduates “who are not just experts within our national space but who can work and be key players within the global economy. For that to happen, internationalization is very key. We don’t have to wait until we spend five, 10 years before we do that. We want internationalization to be part of the programme right from the beginning of the technical university and that’s why from the time our students are in 100 Level, we have signed an agreement today, a partnership and collaborative agreement with TTU that we expect to start our full exchange operation and curriculum development.”
He enthused: “I’m very excited because I can see that the dream is really coming to reality. This is particularly exciting because TTU is among the top three percent universities in the world.”
For Ibidapo-Obe, TTU is an excellent option for the partnership with Tech U. His words: “We share the same name and the university is in good stead. So, I thought that among all the universities, we need that branding that will identify us and for now we have taken the optimum.”
The former VC, University of Lagos, pointed out that the partnership has great potentials that would begin to manifest once implementation begins.
“Tech U will share the brand for TTU as students will have great opportunity to complete part of their education in Texas. They will have acceptance of their curriculum and their credit at TTU. So, really what we’ve done in one fell swoop is that we made our graduates available for international market. So, there is a lot of opportunities now coming physically. Now we are going to have faculty exchange in addition to students exchange. We have gone beyond regular collaboration agreement; we are now specific as to what areas of our work that we want support and this support will also include having joint research programmes. We will start with small research grants of may be $40-50,000 and then we will move on. There is going to be a learning curve where both of us can share expertise. We have confidence of the level of expertise that we have at our universities in Nigeria. And I’m sure this collaboration is going to give us a lot of exposure much more than we think about right now.”
Initial areas of research cooperation include cyber security, software engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, agricultural engineering, food security and biomedical engineering and other related disciplines.
This kind of programme is sure to return foreign students, academics, researchers and administrators to Nigerian universities, particularly with the proposal for Tech U to become the hub for TTU academic, research and internship programmes in Nigeria. The proposal was hinged on the proximity of TTU to older universities such as University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Lagos, Lead City University, Ibadan, University of Ilorin, Lagos State University, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Federal University of Technology, Akure and others within Southwestern states of the country. It also plans to leverage on industries in the region for internship for students. They include big corporations such as Dangote Industries Ltd., CocaCola PLC, Guinness PLC, other multinationals, refineries and well established industries in Nigeria.
The Tech U’s example will ginger other Nigerian universities that are thinking along this line to see it to fruition.
With the return of foreign students, lecturers, researchers and administrators, Nigeria universities will have the opportunity to return to best practices in their operations which will ultimately lift them up to the topmost level of competitive researches and teaching. This is sure to bring global recognition to the country’s university education again.
Their return will also expose Nigerian undergraduates to the global academic community as they study alongside foreigners.
It will definitely reduce the number of Nigerian students studying fully abroad with its attendant capital flight.
Tech U VC, Prof. Salami, called on parents who are willing to give their children and wards the kind of education that will make them become active players in the national and world economies to take the advantage offered by Tech U.
On sustenance of Tech U, the VC explained that the university does not rely on the government as it runs on three sources of funding which are angel donors, legacy investors and business partners.