Better universities will lead to ‘Nigerian exceptionalism’ By Martins Oloja

As I was saying when we began this university education question last week, I am fully persuaded that the time has come for our leaders at all levels, to renew their minds about some critical factors that will determine the future of Nigeria. Certainly, what we will do with education funding is one of them. First, there is no need for education summit anywhere before an emergency can be declared and funds massively deployed to re-equip all our schools, retrain our teachers and dignify teaching with good conditions of service.

We are in a world of business and governance system where the quality of servants at all levels determines the quality of output and global competiveness. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has in its website where it profiles country and global competiveness in its yearly index on competiveness. The WEF notes that education quality is the only known tool for country and global competiveness. They always advise Switzerland and Singapore that lead the global index pack regularly to even scale up despite the fact that they are leaders.

South Africa, for instance, is the only country in Africa that is a member of G-20 and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa), an elite group of global emerging markets. It is no surprise that from global rating, the quality of education in South Africa is the highest in Africa. Of the ten top universities in Africa, most times, the best eight of them are from South Africa. Even in the 2016 Times Higher Education Supplement Ranking of Universities in BRICS and emerging economies, South Africa that has about 24 universities compared to Nigeria’s more than 120, registered four of its universities in the top 50 and two of them in the top 10.
That is why Professor Ayo Olukotun who analysed the implications of the 2016 Times Higher Education ranking of universities the other day, warned the Abuja policy makers thus: “The point to note is that while the dizzying expansion of the universities in Nigeria may have its uses for example in the area of widening access vertically and horizontally, there must be complementary investment in quality focusing on those institutions, which possess the best potential to rise to global stature…”

Same for the United States that has almost eight of the top ten universities in the world. The quality of education in the United States explains part of the critical success factors, former House of Representatives Speaker, Newt Gingrich calls “American exceptionalism” in a classic he wrote in 2011. What United Kingdom’s Cambridge and Oxford Universities (OXBRIGDE) for instance, represent has been part of the reasons the United Kingdom is a world power. It is a case of show me your universities and I can tell where you are and why you are where you are and how far you can go!

There is, therefore, this nexus between quality of education and development of any country. This is the reason South Korea of about 55 million people has become an emerging world power even in disruptive technologies development. It is the world’s No.5 in research and development (R&D) funding. The United States is No.1. China (European Union) are No.2, Japan is No.3, Germany is 4th while South Korea is No.5, France is No.6, India is 7th, United Kingdom is No.8, Russia takes no.9 slot while the 10th is Brazil.

Specifically, South Korea is unique in Asia as it takes education quality to a new height as it has a minister in charge of Knowledge Economy apart from the one in charge of Education, Science & Technology. That is why Samsung is a global leader in electronic quality. The state is behind the competitive quality and advantage of Samsung. It is not just a miracle of some sort. That is why Apples (United States) is often sleepless about the brand equity of South Korea’s) Samsung.

It is quality in their higher education, their research funding quality that is driving their competitive spirit. We do not have to talk about China. It is regarded as No.2 in R&D funding in the world now. South Korea used to be there (N0.2). Japan has always been a world economic power, second to the U.S. China just overtook Japan somehow but not diminished. Let’s learn more from the small-yet-so-big South Korea: This is what the influential Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has just testified about South Korea in a foreword to a recent publication:

“In 2016, Korea will celebrate its twentieth anniversary of OECD membership. In this time, it has achieved impressive convergence in living standards towards the Organisation’s top performers. Fundamental to these efforts have been investment, innovation and human capital.
“Korean students regularly rank among the best performers in the OECD’s PISA tests, while the country is a leader in investment in research and development. At the same time, Korea has not been afflicted by the curse of rising inequality that has struck most other OECD members over the past decade. The level of income inequality remains slightly below the OECD average.

“Korea’s development strategy has served it well, but appears to be in need of re-engineering to face the social, economic and environmental challenges ahead.

Korea’s population will undergo the most rapid ageing of any OECD member over the next half century, putting pressure on public finances and underlining the necessity to boost productivity to secure sustainable long-term growth. This report identifies policy priorities to meet these challenges.

To leverage its position as a leading innovator, and thereby stimulate economic growth, President Park introduced the “creative economy” initiative in 2013, whose goals require harnessing the productive potential of Korea’s private sector, in particular its lagging services sectors and smaller firms. There is scope to enhance the impact of Korea’s substantial R&D investments, for example, by strengthening links between public research institutions and the private sector, as well as by improving the regulatory environment for innovative entrepreneurs.
“Korea has been relatively successful in ensuring the benefits of development….Angel Gurría Secretary-General, OECD signed the foreword about this great country that even Japan now dreads

The powerful OECD has also reported that South Korea has one of the highest levels of R&D expenditure relative to GDP in the OECD area (4.1 in 2013). The country also leads in the development of frontier technologies and it is a top player in 11 of today’s 20 rapidly accelerating technologies. Equipped with R&D-intensive manufacturing sector, a strong science and engineering base and firms operating at the global technology frontier, Korea is ready for the next production revolution. Besides, it is written that Korea leads in creative activities, as measured by ICT and audio-visual-related designs.
And beyond R&D, Korea is investing heavily in the future, by nurturing human capital, improving organizational capabilities and strengthening workers’ skills. The OECD also reveals that the Korea has increased its integration in global value chains (GVCs) over time, mostly relying on Factory Asia and its close engagement with China. China’s demand for Korean products accounts for almost 10% of jobs in Korean business sector, the highest percentage in G-20 economies.

Meanwhile, the powerful OECD reports that the country’s leadership in ICT technologies is not a fluke as it has the highest percentage of tertiary graduates in these disciplines (ICT) in the OECD area (32% in 2012, although this is down from 39% in 2002). As a consequence, the share of R&D personnel in total employment has doubled over the past 10 years, with 80% of researchers employed in the business sector. The Paris-based organization notes that R&D leadership has placed Korea at the frontier in development of cutting edge technologies, in particular in ICT-related technologies. Information industries in Korea account for 56% of total business R&D, the highest share in OECD. The patent portfolio of leading R&D corporations located in Korea reveals a strong technology specialization in all ICT-related technology areas, and in associated fields, such as semi-conductors and optics.

We will discuss in our next engagement more examples of the nexus between quality in education and development. There are specific examples from countries in Africa including South Africa, Botswana and Mauritius where the telecom’s giant, MTN actually emanated from. MTN Nigeria is 75.81% owned by MTN International (Mauritius) Limited (MTNI); 19.65% held by Nigerian shareholders through special purpose vehicles, etc. It may be relevant to know in our interrogation of this contextual question about the universities in Nigeria how the giant (MTN) listed in Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Securities Exchange in South Africa, with a vision to lead the delivery of a bold, new, Digital World to our customers… is linked to Nigerian universities in terms of collaboration, especially with the faculties of electronics and information and communication technologies. Are Airtel, Etisalat, Globacom in anyway benefiting from R&D initiatives of Nigeria’s more than 120 universities?