THE GOALS OF TERTIARY EDUCATION: A PHILOSOPHICAL ASSESSMENT OF NIGERIA’S NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION
Keywords:
Access, Quality, Pedagogy, Education, National policy, NigeriaAbstract
This paper gives a cursory history of Tertiary Education in Nigeria and attempts a philosophical analysis of the concepts of quality and access to education; two major concepts that featured prominently in the goals of Nigeria’s Tertiary Education as stated in Nigeria’s National Policy on Education (2013). Subsequently, a philosophical assessment of the goals of Tertiary Education as stated in the National Policy document and the implementation is undertaken. Based on this philosophical assessment, it is shown among other things, that the concepts of quality and access to education as reflected in the goals of Tertiary Education are better used with clarifications. In addition, it is argued that the history of Tertiary Education in Nigeria is not totally that of woe because Tertiary Education has made some remarkable impact in the nation’s developmental strides. It is however emphasized that there are still enormous challenges facing Nigeria’s Tertiary Education especially when compared with global best practices. Furthermore it is argued that there is still a wide gap between the policy statements on Tertiary Education and their implementation. Suggestions are made towards addressing the challenges pointed out. These suggestions include: government redoubled commitment towards the funding of Tertiary Education, the enforcement of ethics education that has its foundation in the traditional values of Africa in order to address the prevailing laxity in the moral tone of many of the Tertiary InstitutionsReferences
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