A couple of years ago, the Nigerian president voiced a desire for Nigerian universities to put forth a great effort towards increasing their global ranking. The initial plan was for universities in Nigeria to work on making campus-wide improvements so that they could become better respected throughout the world. Unfortunately, the nation hasn’t seen much progress in this endeavor to date.

There are no universities in Nigeria that are currently on the list of the world’s top universities. The following reasons have been identified as contributing factors to explain why these universities consistently rank so low:

• Lack of top ranking foreign academics
• Poor quality of physical infrastructure and developments
• Low installation and penetration of Information and Communication technology

Various problems have been identified by government officials to explain why Nigerian universities have such a hard time competing on a global scale. Among these important issues are lack of funding and the inability of academics at these institutions to communicate with their peers around the world.

Nigerian officials, however, still hold out hope that the universities throughout their country will be able to begin rectifying their assorted problems so that they can start providing students with a quality education. This issue is considered to be of utmost importance because officials are aware that students need to have the opportunity to earn a college degree that will be meaningful in terms of helping them find gainful employment.

If Nigerian universities can start to turn things around in a more positive direction, they will hopefully begin to attract more academic faculty members who are globally recognized for their research abilities and publication records. One part of this plan to implement change includes enhancing the research and development, as well as academic activities in each university. These areas must be improved in order to attract faculty and students who have an array of interests.

Instead of solely relying on the government to provide funding, officials are encouraging universities throughout Nigeria to try to place more of an emphasis on research in an attempt to attract recognition on a global scale. The more reputable the programs at Nigerian universities are believed to be by scholars, businesses, and governments around the world, the better additional funding opportunities will be.

While increasing a university’s research programs certainly requires a great deal of time, effort, and dedication, it is certainly not an impossible task. If universities are able to improve their reputations as viable research institutions, they may gradually begin to garner interest from academically gifted students from around the world.

The first step, however, is to attract outstanding faculty members who can make a significant contribution to research efforts. While such an endeavor will certainly cost a considerable amount of money initially, the benefits to the universities who can attract and keep qualified faculty will far outweigh the expense in the long run. This would go a long way towards improving the overall quality of education in Nigerian universities.