The ranking of tertiary institutions will only get better if both administrators and workers adopt new innovations, former Registrar Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Mr Ayomide Ogunruku, has said.
Ogunruku stated this while delivering the Second Registry Lecture of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Otto/Ijanikin (AOCOED), Lagos.
He said Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is one way tertiary institutions could market themselves.
To this end, he counselled that workers must be ICT-compliant if they must align their dreams with robust vision of their institutions.
The lecture titled: “Effective administration of tertiary educational institutions in the 21st Century” was in honour of the immediate past Registrar of the college, Mr Bola Disu.
Ogunruku said: “No one is in doubt that Nigeria’s TEI (Tertiary Education Institutions) are among the badly ranked in the world. The simple difference between the best and worst TEIs are not in the buildings or names, but in ways human beings in both places operate. One is therefore bold to say our TEIs will continue to be badly ranked so long as we are not ready to change in our perception, attitude and manner of doing things.
“It is, therefore, imperative to use this medium to appeal to all managers of Nigeria’s TEIs not to be innovative in revenue generation alone, but also know how to priortise need and expenditures. No TEI is ranked on the number of official vehicles available therein, but on the basis on quality library and laboratory as well as the product.”
As administrators, Ogunruku advised AOCOED workers to acquire laptops to further consolidate their knowledge of ICT.
“With ICT, the mode of delivery of teaching has changed tremendously. In fact, with ICT, lecturers have ceased being the only source of information as students too can individually access up-to-date information via the internet that teachers might not have accessed,” Ogunruku said.
He warned senior administrators against victimising subordinates, describing it as a grave sin.
“As administrators, do not hoard information or sit down on people’s promotions and privileges, when you do that, a life is being denied,” he said.
While lauding AOCOED, Ogunruku urged its management to move from paper to paperless mode of operation.
He admonished management and workers to build the alumni associations into a brand that can also help in shooting the institution to the top. Ogunruku said achieving this begins from the way workers treat their students. He noted that when they eventually became successful in future, they would love to associate with the AOCOED brand because of how they were treated.
The Provost, AOCOED, Mr Wasiu Olalekan Bashorun, noted that Disu deserved a pat on the back, considering his creativity and innovativeness when he was in the saddle.
He urged his successor, Mr Olumuyiwa Coker, to consolidate on his achievements.
