FUNDING UNIVERSITY EDUCATION AND THE LEVEL OF FUND AVAILABILITY TO PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated funding university education and the level of fund availability to public universities in south-west Nigeria. Two research questions were raised and answered in this study. This study adopted the survey research design of ex post facto type. The population for this study consisted of 16 public University Registrars, and 16 University Bursars of the public universities in South-West, Nigeria. Ten (10) out of the sixteen (16) public universities were randomly selected (that is, 62.5% of the public universities in South-West). The Bursars of the selected ten (10) Universities were purposively sampled. An instrument titled “Funding and Fund Utilisation Inventory (FFUI)” was used for the purpose of data collection. Data collected were analysed using frequency counts, percentages and charts. Descriptive statistics involving mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the two research questions. The result of the findings showed that, students fee (N = 55), other internally generated revenues (N = 46), investment income (N = 38), recurrent grants from Governments (N = 37) and research grants from Governments and agencies (N = 30) were the major sources of funding adopted by public Universities in Southwest, Nigeria. Gifts/endowment (N = 19) and external grants (N = 7) were least on the list of funding source identified by public Universities. Result of research question two revealed that students’ fees (N = 42), other source of incomes (N = 42), recurrent grants from Governments (N = 32), and investment incomes (N = 28) were very regular source of funding available to public Universities in Southwest, Nigeria. The level of availability of funds from gifts/endowment/donations, research grants from Governments, and external grants were low – with responses 42, 32, and 28 respectively, indicating that these streams of funding were not regular during the 2010-2016 academic sessions. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that: Universities’ authorities should endeavour to expand their internal support facilities for students; Universities should be able to identify and promote funding opportunities; and Universities
should explore revenue supplement strategy as a preferred means to financial viability.