Professor Isaac Rotimi Ajayi is the Vice Chancellor of Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State. Here. He speaks with NAZA OKOLI on the reasons for low student enrolment in private universities and why government should provide funding for all categories of tertiary institutions in the country.
This is your second year as Vice Chancellor of Crawford, how has the journey been so far, and what should be expected in the coming years and at the end of your tenure?
The journey has been challenging and also exciting. Challenging in the sense that there are so many tasks to execute, and exciting because it is an opportunity for one to contribute to the academic development of a lot of students and the overall development of the society. I believe that God has brought me here to make some imprints on the lives of a lot of students and to leave a legacy that will endure. I would really want to be remembered as the vice chancellor that came and made accelerated progress towards the achievements of the goals and mission of this university. I would like to leave my imprints on the infrastructural landscape of the university, in the academic integrity of the university and the overall transformation of the university into a proper 21st century university
In terms of infrastructure, most private universities do not compare with many of the public universities. Take Crawford and your alma mater, the University of Ibadan, for example, shouldn’t there be minimum requirements for the establishment of private schools in terms of equipment, facilities, landscape and other infrastructure?
This is the 21st century. This is the era of technology. This is not the time that you would need massive infrastructure before you can set up a university. There are open universities today that deploy technology to teach thousands and even millions of students. So, a private university does not have to wait until it becomes as big as the University of Ibadan or University of Lagos in terms of physical infrastructure before it begins to operate. There are very smart universities that just need a minimum set of physical facilities to survive, take the library, for example. In those days, you needed to visit the library to access information from books packed in the shelves. But we can now access millions of books and journals through e-library.
The road to this university has remained bad for some years. Are there any plans whether by the school or the government to make access to this school easier?
Yes, we have some of our representatives already talking to the government about it. The roads are very deplorable. As a matter of fact, they are devaluing most of the investments in this area. We are talking with the government; we are making them know that the road is very strategic, especially to the socio-economic development of this area.
Crawford is 11 years old and has produced eight sets of graduates. It still, however, has only two colleges. Are there any plans to add more in the near future?
This is a compact university. There are a lot of programmes we are running; it is just that we have domiciled them in those two colleges. We are expanding in terms of the number. Some of these programmes may fit well into some other colleges. For example, we don’t have a college of engineering here, but we have a computer science and technology programme under the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. However, we have plans to create more colleges in the near future, but that has not deterred us from expanding. As a matter of fact, we are introducing some new programmes. We have a new BSc programme in Diplomacy and International Relations. Another one is Criminology and Security Studies. Besides, we have College of Business and Social Sciences, and that is also a big one. Of course, we have a thriving Postgraduate School, and a School of Part-time Studies.
Private universities, especially faith-based ones like Crawford, are often criticised for their high-handedness when it comes to discipline. How do you enforce discipline?
Discipline is a top priority for us here, because as a missionary or faith-based university, it is not something you can compromise. We stand for values; we stand for standards; and ethics; whoever is not ready to abide by the regulations or share our vision in that regards, cannot be with us. We tell our students that we have our rules and regulations and our code of conduct. Any violation is always visited with sanctions. We stand for Christian values. As a matter of fact our motto is ‘Knowledge with Godliness.’ So, we ensure that our students are not only exposed to academic work alone, but also to intensive training on living a godly lifestyle.
You have spoken frequently about the need for the government to provide funding for private universities. Is there supposed to be a sharing formula, or is it to be in the same way that public universities receive funding?
Government should provide assistance – funding assistance. That’s where I stand. It is not as if it should be the main financier. The government cannot provide all the funds that would be needed to run private universities. Owners of the universities would do that. But because education is a social service, and the constitution speaks of the right of the citizens to education, then government has a duty to provide access, especially at the tertiary level. The last time we had a meeting in Abuja, it was resolved that we should go to the National Assembly and make our case there, because the law establishing TETFUND looks like it is cast in iron; and I don’t see anything like that. It is a matter of reviewing the law. The chunk of the education tax used by TETFUND comes from the private sector. Yet only public institutions benefit from TETFUND. Government, alone cannot carry the responsibility of providing education for all its citizens.
There is increasing emphasis on entrepreneurial training in universities. How much has Crawford done in this respect?
Yes, there is a lot of emphasis on it here too. As a matter of fact, all of our students must go through training in our Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and they must be certificated on a particular vocation of their choice. And that is apart from their training in ICT. So, our students here graduate with three certificates: the degree certificate, a certificate in a particular vocation, and a certificate in ICT proficiency.
In 2016, only 36 students subscribed to Crawford through JAMB. The story is similar in most private universities. Why has the problem of low enrolment persisted in spite of your best efforts?
Generally, private universities have issues with students’ enrolment. This is due to the disparity in tuition of the government-owned universities and the private. Most students prefer to apply to public universities and that is why we have issues with enrolment.
How can this problem be addressed?
By the time students begin to pay at public universities, there would be balance. Education cannot be completely free at the tertiary level. What I would suggest to government is to create scholarship schemes, for the brilliant ones, like it is done in Western countries, and then charge moderate fees to meet their overhead costs, and provide the amenities that can allow the university to function optimally.