ADMINISTRATORS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TERTIARY EDUCATON TRUST FUND (TETFUND) INTERVENTION IN IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF POLYTECHNIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

 

 

Funding has always been the primary challenge of tertiary education in Nigeria, accounting for scores of inhibitions including the brain drain (Exodus of many of the best academics to greener pastures), dilapidated infrastructures, campus brigandage and poor teacher motivation among others. In response to public outcry, government in 1993 established the education trust fund (ETF) which in 2011was renamed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). The paper examined administrators’ perception of the effectiveness of TETFUND in enhancing the quality of polytechnic programmes in Nigeria. Rectors, Registrars and Bursars of 30 polytechnics were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The responses were analyzed using percentage, mean and t-test. The results showed that while TETFUND has been largely effective in improving the quality of academic programmes, staffing and physical facilities of pubic polytechnics, it has had no similar influence on private polytechnics. Science and engineering faculties and departments were also identified as the greatest beneficiaries of TETFUND grants, while the humanities (as represented by General Studies), social sciences and entrepreneurship education lagged much behind. The findings showed that funding, although much improved from the nadir of the late twentieth century, remain grossly inadequate even in public polytechnics. The study concluded that the current situation, in which capital project funding in many polytechnics is being borne almost exclusively by TETFUND, is not salutary to sustainable educational development. The study admonished polytechnic authorities to prioritize the search for alternative funding sources to moderate the current dependence on TETFUND for capital and staff development projects.

 

Key words: TETFUND, Intervention, Nigeria, Polytechnic, quality indicators