The dichotomy between university and polytechnic graduates calls
for government attention, as it appears to be one of the reasons
many students are not willing to accept admission into Nigerian
polytechnics.
Over the years, students seeking tertiary education always wanted
to attend universities. Few who are in polytechnics or have
graduated from polytechnics did so as a last resort. Stakeholders in
the sector are finding it difficult to persuade prospective students
that university and polytechnic certificates carry the same weight;
but experience shows variance with the claims.
Because of this, there are over one million admission spaces in the
polytechnics and colleges of education, students are not willing to
accept the offers.
Why students don't want polytechnics: Vanguard
investigations revealed some of the reasons why students do not
want the polytechnics. They include the minimum school certificate
qualifications requirement for tertiary education. While universities
require five credits, including English and Mathematics, polytechnics
are satisfied with four credits, to include Mathematics and English.
Some polytechnics even accept a pass in English.
• Polytechnic entrance exams
Again, when a student sits for the UTME, cut-off marks for
universities are always different from the polytechnics and colleges
of education. Most times, while the university cut off is 180, it is
150 for polytechnics. This sends wrong signals to admission
seekers.
Besides, before the introduction of UTME, students who sat for
polytechnic entrance exams wrote three papers, while the university
candidates wrote four papers. Thus, while the polytechnic scores
are rated on 300, the university is rated on 400 marks.
Apart from this, after the prospective students have been admitted
in the polytechnic, they spend a minimum of five years on any
course to obtain HND, while the university undergraduate spends
four years, while some specialized courses, like engineering take
five years, while architecture and medicine, take six and seven years
respectively.
Moreover, in the polytechnic system, the Cumulative Grade Point
Average, CGPA, is 4.0, while that of the university is 5.0.
But it is in the labour market that the disparity is quite graphic. For
instance, it is interesting to note that the HND holder in the civil
service usually does not advance beyond salary GL 13; that means
he/she cannot be a director. Even when a polytechnic graduate
wants to get a Master's degree, he is often denied admission until
he does Post- Graduate Diploma, after which he is qualified.
If you get to most polytechnics in Nigeria, it is the university
graduates that are employed as lecturers. The authorities seldom
employ polytechnic graduates as lecturers.
• FG allocations: Our investigations revealed further that even the
Federal Government allocation to the university is higher than the
polytechnics. Government is not helping matters, as it often ignores
the agitations by polytechnics for months, but respond repidly to
universities.
The Visitor of state-owned universities and polytechnics is the
governor. But while the governor visits the university during
convocation, he seldom visits the polytechnic throughout his
tenure. The best he could do is to delegate the Deputy Governor or
Commissioner for Special Duties to stand in. All these add to why
many admission seekers prefer to remain at home until they get
admission in the university. They see the polytechnic as the last
resort when all attempts fail. We should not be quick to blame our
students, the bulk of the blame should go to our government and
policymakers.
Minister of Education could sponsor a bill in this regard to the
National Assembly for amendment and the anomaly will stop. Until
everyone begins to see polytechnic graduates and university
graduates as the same, we will continue to have admission spill-
over every year.
Poly students, graduates react
Some polytechnic students and graduates bared their minds:
Bidemi Kalejaiye said: "After I had tried to get admission into the
university for four years without success, I decided to go to the
polytechnic. I, however discovered that a university graduate is not
better than a polytechnic graduate.''
Joshua Yinusa said: "I always desired university education. But after
I tried to get admission into the university for two years without
success, I accepted polytechnic admission since all my friends
whom we did WASSCE together were either in the university or
polytechnic. After my NYSC, I will still enrol for a degree course in
the university because of the disparities between the polytechnic
and university graduates."
Onome Ogheneovo said: "Since I couldn't get what I desired, I
decided to like what I have. I tried to get into the university for five
years without success. But within a year, I tried the polytechnic, I
got it. The requirements were easy to meet."
Source: Vanguard
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