THE Federal Government has pegged the carrying capacity of the nine newly established federal universities at 500 students per session.

The new federal universities created by President Goodluck Jonathan across the six geopolitical zones are in Kogi, Taraba, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Ekiti, Nasarawa and Katsina states.

Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, speaking with newsmen after declaring open a two-day retreat for vice chancellors and registrars of the newly approved fourth generation federal universities, expressed the need to have a trim number of students in the universities in order to regulate the product of the institutions.

She urged the vice- chancellors to ensure strict compliance with the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) guidelines on the carrying capacity of the universities set up as specialised institutions, saying, “we really want to have control so that we can have more effective teaching and quality graduates in these institutions.

“The issue of carrying capacity is a directive because we do not intend to have more than we can carry. Actually, we want to start with 100 or 200 per session so that by the time the universities are on full stream, we do not intend to have more than 500 students per session,”the minister declared.

President Jonathan had approved the appointments of vice-chancellors and registrars for the newly established universities while a committee headed by the executive secretary of the NUC, Professor Julius Okojie, was inaugurated to develop the Academic Brief and Physical Master Plan of the universities.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/21390-fg-pegs-carrying-capacity-of-9-new-varsities-at-500-students

Actions speak louder than words - they will admit three times this amount.

Are we saying that the universities, meant to help improve capacity, will only be able to admit max 500 to start with or what?

Kobojunkie:

Are we saying that the universities, meant to help improve capacity, will only be able to admit max 500 to start with or what?

I think they are more like specialized universities and will focus mostly in programs related to science and technology.

unecessary waste of money. Spend that money improving already well established universities. why are we so given to doing the wrong things?

It wasn't a waste of money. You can't limit universities to only being located in certain states and sub-regions, the way things were previously. I think they should have said 1000 each, though. 500 seems a little light.

Pharoh:

I think they are more like specialized universities and will focus mostly in programs related to science and technology.

Even at that, the above makes sense to you? We spend millions of dollars to build specialized schools ONLY to restrict capacity to only 500, at any point??    I don tell you make you dey ignore me well well . . .   

PhysicsMHD:

It wasn't a waste of money. You can't limit universities to only being located in certain states and sub-regions, the way things were previously. I think they should have said 1000 each, though. 500 seems a little light.

I am sorry, WHAAAARRRRTTTT

The reasons given for the schools was to counter capacity issues. The same government could have more easily invested the same money into improving many other already existing and established schools, many of which are working BELOW capacity( 1000 -10000 in many cases), but it chose to argue that we needed more schools to help solve the issue. Lets assume we upped capacity for each of the 9 schools to about 1000 each, how many more schools do you think we need to deal with the About 0.40  million slots we need each year?

500 students should be the population of a single department in a sch like unilag.

Blackteeth:

500 students should be the population of a single department in a sch like unilag.

Na wa oo!!

500 what?

500 for the whole university or for department of science and technology?

Should be a very high-quality product, then.

BULLCRAP - ---

http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/college/harvard.asp

bleh

They are taking the right approach. Start out at 500, manage that # well. Then you can expand to 5000 later down the line. Better than starting out with 5K and botching it.

Doesn't make sense to bite more than you can chew. . .

^^^ You are discussing here of institutions of higher learning here . . . . . not of car factories and building of cars!!!

Building a good graduate is like building a car, perhaps 

I dunno, I don't view universities as too different from any other sort of business. . . I think in most cases, people shouldn't try to do more than their resources will allow. If 500 is what the resources allocated to these universities allow, let them start with that and manage it well. Then expand later.

Anyway, we already have enough half-baked graduates in Nigeria. Why not try producing more good ones?

^^^ WOW . . . .all I can say is WOW . . . .


** Half-baked graduate issues we currently have in the country has little to nothing to do with school capacity. As it is, most all of our universities(government owned) are operating at less than half capacity -- have been for decades.

Kobojunkie, so what would you do? You have a budget that is enough for a university with 500 students. With that budget, your 500 students will get an excellent education.

Now, how would you expand it to more than 500 students, with that same budget you have?

^^^ Quick question, where did you get your assumption that this suggestion was made as a result of budget limits?

Kobojunkie:

^^^ WOW . . . .all I can say is WOW . . . .


** Half-baked graduate issues we currently have in the country has little to nothing to do with school capacity. As it is, most all of our universities(government owned) are operating at less than half capacity -- have been for decades.

And how did you arrive at this conclusion?

. .

Well, in general, limits and #s of this sort are usually due to funding constraints.

And this quote suggests that that 500 is all the money allows for good teaching and quality graduates:

She urged the vice- chancellors to ensure strict compliance with the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) guidelines on the carrying capacity of the universities set up as specialised institutions, saying, “we really want to have control so that we can have more effective teaching and quality graduates in these institutions.

^^^^ How in the world did you get that to say BUGDET is an ISSUE??

absolute crap

bleh

I should have known better than to do this

You win Kobojunkie, the budget is infinite, they have an infinite # of naira to spend on each school

^^ let me get this straight -- you are nowhere informed that the BUDGET IS THE PROBLEM--- (the article even details the reason why for the decision and mentions nothing of a budget issue) --- but you AUTOMAGICALLY make it one so as to justify this -- and when questioned on how you arrived at that CONCLUSION, you bail and pretend the one asking you is the issue??

ROFLMAO!!!

Kobojunkie:

I am sorry, WHAAAARRRRTTTT

The reasons given for the schools was to counter capacity issues. The same government could have more easily invested the same money into improving many other already existing and established schools, many of which are working BELOW capacity( 1000 -10000 in many cases), but it chose to argue that we needed more schools to help solve the issue. Lets assume we upped capacity for each of the 9 schools to about 1000 each, how many more schools do you think we need to deal with the About 0.40  million slots we need each year?

Really? Even if a government spokesperson did specifically say this, I'm surprised you just took it at face value.

You don't think they could have just built universities in areas/states that already had them and still tackled the capacity issues?

It was about spreading access to education. That was obvious.

And how is 3000-10,000 below capacity?

PhysicsMHD:

Really? Even if a government spokesperson did specifically say this, I'm surprised you just took it at face value.

hm . . . so if a government spokesperson says that A is reason for Z --- we should instead create B just like that confirm B to be the reason. OK!

PhysicsMHD:

You don't think they could have just built universities in areas/states that already had them and still tackled the capacity issues?
It was about spreading access to education. That was obvious.
And how is 3000-10,000 below capacity?

Re-Read. The schools have capacity of 3000-10000, BUT ARE NOT operating at that at all. My alma mater for instance has a capacity, I believe of 5000 but only had average 1500 enrolled. Get it now? My high school could hold about 100 students per grade( eg. 100 JSS 3 students in the whole school) but because of current situation with the education system and school, only about 100 students in the whole school . .  hope this helps.

Kobojunkie:

hm . . . so if a government spokesperson says that A is reason for Z --- we should instead create B just like that confirm B to be the reason. OK!

No, you should take a quick glance at the states the new universities are located in and reach a reasonable conclusion. Claiming that this was really only about upping capacity is not really tenable.

Re-Read. The schools have capacity of 3000-10000, BUT ARE NOT operating at that at all. My alma mater for instance has a capacity, I believe of 5000 but only had average 1500 enrolled. Get it now? My high school could hold about 100 classes per grade but becaus of situation with the school, only about 100 students in the whole school . . hope this helps.

You should write more clearly.

'many other already existing and established schools, many of which are working BELOW capacity( 1000 -10000 in many cases)"

means exactly what I interpreted it to mean.

And how do you know your alma mater really had a capacity of 5000?

PhysicsMHD:

And how do you know your alma mater really had a capacity of 5000?

I spoke to one of the professors on this issue and so many others before today . . . Plus, I believe the ministry can easily provide that information if you can get them.

IT THINK THIS IS THE CAPACITY THEY CAN HANDLE FOR NOW THAT IS IF THE UNIV MANAGEMENT WONT OVERFLOOD IT FOR MONEY MAKING.THEY ARE NEW .
NOT SURE THEY VE RECEIVED 100 PERCENT OF THE TAKE OFF GRANT APPROPRIATED TO THEM BY FG AND REMEMBER THEY WILL BE FACE WITH SO MUCH CHALLANGE LIKE eg, CURRICULUM, PERSONNEL
I WISH THEM WELL IF IT DOESNT TURN INTO ANOTHER GLORIFIED SEC SCHOOL