Review of Higher Education in Africa
Editorial pdf
Education for National Development
During summer of 2010, I was a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria. I taught a graduate course in English Language Arts, reviewed the Reading and Literacy curricula of one of the universities and took the opportunity to talk with colleagues on research collaboration and other activities that would advance scholarship among faculty and education in Nigeria. It is therefore not surprising that the first article in this Volume 2 number 1 is concerned about research for national development in third world countries. In the first paper, “Towards Improving Research Capabilities of Tertiary Educational Institutions in the Third World Countries for Sustainable Development: A Review Summary of Research” , Etuk, Etudor-Eyo and Emah all at University of Uyo, Nigeria analyzed the factors responsible for the low level of academic research in the Third World academia and on measures for curbing those factors. In the second article, “Developing Human Resources in Tertiary Business Education for Youth Empowerment and National Development” Usoro explores the fact that there is a high level of unemployment among youth who are graduates from Nigerian universities and calls for business education curricula in tertiary institutions that will lead to gainful youth employment. Since reform in part depends on the quality of teachers, two papers in this issue analyze the situation in terms of teacher preparation or how to enable teachers to be more effective. In Rena and Suleman’s paper, “Perceptions of Pre-Service teachers Towards Teaching: A Case study of the Eritrean Institute of Technology”, they probe into the views of pre-service teachers on teaching and how that may influence the teaching -learning process while in the paper by Ajibade, Oloyede, Adeleke and Awopetu, they investigate lecturers views on and attitudes to pedagogical skills training at Obafemi Awolowo Univeristy. They found out after the analysis of responses from 200 academic staff that lecturers in the study had a positive attitude to pedagogical training. In the final paper, “Achievement Motivation Among University Managers and Institutional Effectiveness….”, Bassey and Akpan investigated the relationship between achievement motivation and institutional effectiveness in terms of teaching and learning. They found there was significant relationship between achievement motivation and institutional effectiveness and based on their findings, recommendations were made on strategies to increase motivation.
Education is necessary for national development. Worldwide, it is generally accepted that investments in education will lead to economic and social development of the citizens of the country. Educational systems also adapt to the ever increasing scientific, technological and social demands of the society. In these papers, contributors make the case that education can be used for national development.
James S. Etim
Winston Salem State University
Winston Salem, NC 27110.
USA
Education for National Development
During summer of 2010, I was a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria. I taught a graduate course in English Language Arts, reviewed the Reading and Literacy curricula of one of the universities and took the opportunity to talk with colleagues on research collaboration and other activities that would advance scholarship among faculty and education in Nigeria. It is therefore not surprising that the first article in this Volume 2 number 1 is concerned about research for national development in third world countries. In the first paper, “Towards Improving Research Capabilities of Tertiary Educational Institutions in the Third World Countries for Sustainable Development: A Review Summary of Research” , Etuk, Etudor-Eyo and Emah all at University of Uyo, Nigeria analyzed the factors responsible for the low level of academic research in the Third World academia and on measures for curbing those factors. In the second article, “Developing Human Resources in Tertiary Business Education for Youth Empowerment and National Development” Usoro explores the fact that there is a high level of unemployment among youth who are graduates from Nigerian universities and calls for business education curricula in tertiary institutions that will lead to gainful youth employment. Since reform in part depends on the quality of teachers, two papers in this issue analyze the situation in terms of teacher preparation or how to enable teachers to be more effective. In Rena and Suleman’s paper, “Perceptions of Pre-Service teachers Towards Teaching: A Case study of the Eritrean Institute of Technology”, they probe into the views of pre-service teachers on teaching and how that may influence the teaching -learning process while in the paper by Ajibade, Oloyede, Adeleke and Awopetu, they investigate lecturers views on and attitudes to pedagogical skills training at Obafemi Awolowo Univeristy. They found out after the analysis of responses from 200 academic staff that lecturers in the study had a positive attitude to pedagogical training. In the final paper, “Achievement Motivation Among University Managers and Institutional Effectiveness….”, Bassey and Akpan investigated the relationship between achievement motivation and institutional effectiveness in terms of teaching and learning. They found there was significant relationship between achievement motivation and institutional effectiveness and based on their findings, recommendations were made on strategies to increase motivation.
Education is necessary for national development. Worldwide, it is generally accepted that investments in education will lead to economic and social development of the citizens of the country. Educational systems also adapt to the ever increasing scientific, technological and social demands of the society. In these papers, contributors make the case that education can be used for national development.
James S. Etim
Winston Salem State University
Winston Salem, NC 27110.
USA
