ADMINISTRATORS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TERTIARY EDUCATON TRUST FUND (TETFUND) INTERVENTION IN IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF POLYTECHNIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA.
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Date
2022-10
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Faculty of Education, Kwara State University, Malete
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.