ANALYSIS OF TETFUND INTERVENTION IN IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF BUSINESS EDUCATION I TERTIARY INSTITUTION IN EDO AND DELTA STATES

Background to the Study

Education is the most powerful tool in the development of personality and human skills, and for any nation to progress (whether developed, developing or under developed) it needs education. Education gives proper direction to the attitude and behavior of individuals. Education is a full-fledged comprehensive process that directs people towards better survival and rapid growth in this world. To make changes in any society and to manage future challenges, there is only one tool which is most important and that is called education (Okebukola, 2002). Education can be seen as a process, a product and a discipline.

As a process, education is a set of activities which entail handing down the ideas, values and norms of the society across generations. As a product, education is measured by the qualities and traits displayed by the educated persons. Here, the educated persons are traditionally conceived of as “knowledgeable and cultured” persons. As a discipline, education is defined in terms of the benefits of organized knowledge to which students are exposed to. Jubril (2005) defined education as the aggregate of all the processes through which a child develops abilities and other forms of behavior which are of positive value to the society.

Education, especially higher education is widely accepted as a major instrument for promoting socio-economic, political and cultural development. It is

a life-long process that has interpretation in purpose, type and level. It is a means of socializing people into the community, for upholding customs and traditions as well as for the modification or changing of same in conformity with existing ideologies, ideological expansions or reformations.

Higher education is the highest level of education for human and capital development all over the world and its products are expected to be job creators not job seekers (Abdulkareem, Fasasi & Akunubi, 2011).The establishment of higher educational institutions was in pursuit of meeting the global requirements of producing manpower that will serve in different capacities and contribute positively to the socio-economic and political development of Nigeria. Higher education is a critical component in sustainable human and national development. It is axiomatic that no nation ever developed technologically and economically without first investing heavily in higher education (Abdulkareem, Fasasi & Akinubi, 2011). Higher education institutions are sources of new knowledge and innovative thinking. They provide skilled personnel and credible credentials and contribute to innovation and improve the productivity of a nation. Today, higher education plays an important role in the development of the economy of a nation.

Education is obviously the basic instrument of economic growth and technological advancement of any society. It is in recognition of this fact that governments commit immense resources to ensure the provision of education for their citizens and also tailored their policies towards ensuring that it is made

accessible to the generality of their citizenry (Oyebade et al., 2008). However, business education is an essential element of this general education. It is concerned with the impartation of business orientation and knowledge for personal and national development. Business education involves teaching students the fundamentals, concepts, theories and processes of business. To Okoli (2010), business education is an important part of the general education which emphasizes on skills and competencies acquisition for use in offices and business related occupations. Similarly, Nwanewezi (2010) describes business education as encompassing education for office occupations, business teaching, business administration and economic understanding. In all, Abdulkadir (2011) noted that one remarkable important characteristic of business education program is that, its products can function independently as self-employed and employers of labor.

To this end, the tenet of business education embraces basic education for teaching career, entrepreneurship, business understanding, office environment and vocational practices. Education in this field occurs at several levels, including primary, secondary and higher education, with the greatest activity in the later. However, Igboke (2005) enumerated the following as the objectives of business education at all levels of education which include to develop basic skills for personal use in the future, to acquire the basic knowledge and skills of business education, to relate the knowledge and skills acquired to national development, to develop basic skills in office occupation, to provide the needed background for

 

 

teaching in business subjects, to prepare students for further training in business studies and to provide orientation and basic skills with which to start a life of work for those who may not undergo further training.

Business education was philosophically built on the production of graduates who would be equipped with all the necessary skills that would enable them fit into existing job opportunities in the society but also empower them with skills that would enable them establish their own businesses and if possible create job opportunities for others (Okafor, 2008). Business education skills and knowledge could be acquired at the Colleges of Education, Polytechnics or Universities. Also male and female business educators are found teaching in the business education programmes which include office and technology and management departments in the tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Besides teaching, these educators engage in other academic activities such as researches, supervision of students‟ projects and seminars, supervision of student industrial training and teaching practice exercises, course advising and preparation of results.

For education to really serve as a veritable vehicle for socioeconomic growth and development as well as for the actualization of these lofty objectives of business education in tandem, educational institutions and its systems must function optimally in relation to its set standards. It therefore becomes imperative for a systemic quality assurance in the administration, teaching and learning of

business education in Nigeria. The need for quality assurance in Nigerian business education for effective teaching and learning cannot be overemphasized.

However, Adegbasan (2011) enumerated the following as the major needs for quality assurance in Nigeria education system as to serve as indispensable component of quality control strategy in education (1) to ensure and maintain higher standard of education at all levels (2) to assist in monitoring and supervision of education (3) to determine the quality of the teachers‟ input (4) to determine the number of classrooms needed based on the average class size (5) to ensure quality control of education (6) to determine the level of adequacy of the facilities available for quality control and to ensure how the financial resources available could be prudently and judiciously utilized.

On the other hand, Ehindero (2004) postulates the following as the basic indices for quality assurance in education- Learners‟ entry behavior which include characteristics and attitudes including some demographic factors that can inhibit or facilitate their learning, the teachers‟ entry qualifications which include values, pedagogic skills and professional preparedness, the teaching/learning processes including the structure of the curriculum and learning environment and the flow of operational funds including its adequacy and regularity. The interplay of these and other related factors will go a long way in determining the outcome of any educational program.

It is obvious that philosophical objectives of quality assurance are the decision of educational program to train individuals to achieve competence in a given area of industrial production function. The focus is to prevent problems, strengthen organizational systems and continually improving performance in relation to business education. Similarly, in order to enhance the infrastructures and facilities of tertiary institutions, development of staff and research, the Federal Government through the ministry of education has established agencies such as the Education Trust Fund (ETF), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) amongst others. These bodies support the schools in terms of infrastructural development, training and retraining of lecturers, library development, book publications and aids for research development. Also, the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) is a government agency that tends to bridge the gap between students‟ theoretical or classroom knowledge and practical or workplace experience. All these efforts are aimed at ensuring standard and quality of tertiary education in Nigeria.

Despite these huge efforts to ensure high quality of tertiary education in Nigeria, symptoms of poor quality education are still very obvious. In business education, complains still persist which include poorly coordinated supervision mechanism, underfunding, student explosion, poor management and governance and attitudinal failure. Government is aware that this decadent situation portends danger to the country, particularly as poor quality of graduates who are ill-equipped for the world of work are currently being produced.

 

 

The Federal Government in an attempt to end the problem of funding tertiary education in Nigeria introduced the Educational Trust Fund (ETF) in 2003 and later Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in 2011 as an intervention to fund Nigerian higher education. The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) formerly Education Trust Fund (ETF) is a product of a challenge posed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) by Government in the early 90s. Government then challenged ASUU to propose „other‟ viable sources of generating funds that could be used to save tertiary education in the country through interventions and extra budgetary supports. ASUU worked out a detailed policy formulation and managerial structure of ETF (now TETFund) which formed part of FGN/ASUU Agreement of 1992.

Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was established as an intervention agency with the responsibility to manage, disburse and monitor the education tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The introduction of Educational Trust Fund (ETF) according to Agunbiade (2006) under the Education Tax Act No. 7 of 1993 and as amended by Act No. 40 of 1998 has the mandate and objective of funding educational projects in order to improve the quality of education in Nigeria. To achieve this objective, a 2% education tax was imposed on the profits of all registered companies and banks in Nigeria. TETFund ensures that funds generated from education tax are utilized in order to improve the quality of education in Nigeria. It disburses the amount in the fund to federal and state tertiary institutions. The mandate of TETFund include (1) the provision and maintenance of essentia

physical infrastructure for teaching and learning, (2) instructional materials and equipment, (3) research and publication, (4) academic staff training and development and any other need which in the opinion of the board of trustees is critical and essential for the improvement of standard in higher educational institution (Igbuzor, 2014).

TETFund intervention projects apart from the normal annual interventions include development of physical infrastructure, presidential special scholarship scheme for innovation and development, high impact intervention program, academic staff training and development, conference attendance, book development, academic journal publication, and national research funds. (Igbuzor, 2014). These are some of the areas of TETFund intervention to reduce the falling standard prevalent in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Against this background, this study aims to assess the performance of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) interventions in improving the quality of business education in tertiary institutions in Edo and Delta States.