An Appraisal of Research in Nigeria's University Sector

Abstract

The role of higher education research in national development cannot be overemphasised. However, research in Nigeria’s institutions of higher learning comprising the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education has yet to make a real impact on the technological advancement of the country and the socio-economic well-being of its citizenry. Constraints hampering the realisation of research goals in the higher education sector include inadequate and irregular funding, poor motivation, poor or obsolete research infrastructure, brain drain and rising workload resulting from deteriorating staff/student ratio. These constraints have also generally led to low research productivity. Against this backdrop, this paper appraises the research scene in Nigeria’s institutions of higher learning with emphasis on the university sector, and stresses the need to fill yawning gaps in such critical areas as funding levels, capacity building (including ICT requirements), research focus or specialty and tertiary institution-industry collaboration among others, as part of strategic national research and development (R&D) planning.

Keywords: Higher education; research; university sector; funding; constraints; outputs.