The Association of Registrars of Nigerian Universities has called for collaborative efforts to address the challenges facing the university system in the country.
The group also identified poor governance, lack of political will and unstable leadership as the biggest challenges confronting the system.
This was contained in a communique issued on Friday at the end of its 19th Annual Retreat and 76th business meeting, held at Elizade University Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State.
In the communique which was made available to our correspondent on Sunday, titled, ‘Navigating the challenging terrain of university administration in Nigeria: retrospection into the future,’ the registrars noted that the decline in the nation’s university system over the past decade, necessitated innovative ideas that would advance the frontiers of higher education administration in the country.
According to the group, the key elements for addressing the challenges in the Nigerian university system must be to focus on strategic planning, ensuring financial independence through diversification of revenue streams, which should be in collaboration with the private sector, and actualising the vision of the universities through quality research and innovations.
The communique read: “Poor governance and unstable leadership were identified as bedeviling the Nigerian University System, and to address the problems, Universities must evolve sustainable development goals that would ensure optimal performance.
“Government and university leaders or managers are advised to build consensus and employ the use of mediation and collaborative decision making as veritable instruments of mitigating crisis in the Nigerian University System.
“The funding challenges in the universities are perennial. This has resulted in various crises bedeviling the system and weakening the attainment of university goals. Funding university education in Nigeria should, therefore, be a multi-stakeholder business for the universities to attain their mandate and global competitiveness.”
It added that universities there was a need for varsities to forge partnerships with industries and government agencies and ensure policy commitment and robust opportunities for research and innovation to improve educational quality and sustainable national development and growth.
“Registrars must continue to play the stabilising roles by steering the affairs of universities away from crisis. An effective registry is a key driver to University success.
Registrars as facilitators in the university system must be on top of their jobs; and be dynamic, cautious, and creative to innovate administrative processes for better service delivery in the 21st Century university administration.
Professional positions such as Academic Planning Director of ICT etc, in the university should be reserved for professionals in the field,” the statement read.
