1. Access to Higher Education: A Case Study of the
Demand and Supply in Higher Education in Nigeria
07/05/15
Master’s Degree Defense Presentation
By
Ogunyinka, Emmanuel Kayode
Supervisor: Tang Bin (Associate Professor)
@ Graduate School, College of Education,
Central China Normal University.

2. Introduction
 Nigeria as a nation had (5) five Universities with a total enrollment of 3646 students
in 1962.
 The Nigerian University system has grown to 129 institutions, made up of 40
Federal Universities, 38 State Universities and 51 Private Universities with a total
enrollment of more than 1.3 million students, yet the problem of access to
University education in the country persists.
 The National Universities Commission (NUC) which regulates University
education in terms of standards has set merit, carrying capacity, catchment areas and
quota for educationally disadvantaged states as criteria for admission into Federal
Universities.
 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)/Unified Tertiary
Matriculations examinations (UTME) in charge of entrance exam, only less than
twenty percent (20%) on the average gain admission into the universities.
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3. Purpose of the Study
 To investigate access to university education in
Nigeria,
 To Analyze its demand and supply, managed
by JAMB/UTME ,and
 To look into NUC’s admission criteria such as
carrying capacity, catchment areas, and quota
system formula imposed on university admission
in Nigeria.
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4. Significance of the Study
To see how the results of this study could contribute in persuading
government to invest more in and provide more funding to Universities:
1. To enhance their infrastructure, increase personnel and provide
more spaces for the ever increasing number of qualified candidates
that seek admission into Nigeria higher institutions,
2. Findings to this study will be of immense benefit to educational
administrators, policy makers and stakeholders in education as it will
enable them to see the need for proper and efficient deployment of
funds in the face of the dwindling financial resources bedeviling
Nigeria’s higher education, and
3. The need to review the policies on admission that tend to restrict
access.
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5. Conceptual Framework
Channels or Alternative Routes to Higher Education in
Nigeria
A. The first channel assumes that a graduate go through
NCE and then to the university. The other two channels
are the more common ones, that is, those who go straight
from secondary school to university and those who go
through polytechnics to university.
A. Further, as an alternative, the other higher levels of
education (Nigerian colleges of education and the
polytechnics) are alternative routes after secondary
education.
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Source: Adapted from Okuwa (2004)

7. Conceptual Framework contd.
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8. Data Analysis & Interpretation on the Demand &
Supply in Higher Education in Nigeria
Theoretical Framework on Demand & Supply
I. The theory of demand and supply is
adopted to explain the demand for higher
education.
II. In Nigeria, the regulatory body controls
admissions based on the available
infrastructure such that the NUC only admits a
small proportion of qualified students.
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9.  The graph indicates that in order to obtain
equilibrium in the higher education market, quantity
Q2 spaces must be given by the universities at a fee of
Pe.
 The government legislate a maximum school fee
that could be charged by government universities that
corresponds to Pc in the graph.
 At the government price Pc which is lower than
the market-clearing Pe, applicants’ demand for higher
educational spaces are more than what government
universities can provide.
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10. Demand and Supply in Higher Education Services under
Government Low Pricing of Education
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11. Applicant thus demand for quantity Q3 at price Pc but
government higher institutions can only supply Q1 generating
an excess demand for spaces in higher institutions. The normal
adjustment to this disequilibrium that will be set in motion is
an increase in price. Since price is not flexible, it constrains
the number of spaces with the excess demand constituting the
number of students rationed out of the system, and which
provides enormous opportunity for domestic private and
foreign higher education institutions. This excess demand
therefore stimulates denial, consumption of private and going
abroad for higher education.
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Demand and Supply in Higher Education Services under
Government Low Pricing of Education contd.

12. Methodology
Employing the ex-post facto design, this paper used existing
data from the relevant regulatory institutions such as:
1. National University Commission (NUC), National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS),
2. Education Sector Analysis Unit of Federal Ministry of
Education (ESA/FME),
3. JAMB/UTME, and
4. Other relevant journals to analyze the demand and supply in
higher education in Nigeria.
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13. Results/Findings
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From the table, the result indicates that the relationship between the two variables
involved is statistically significant difference “Total demanded (M = 527562.70, SD =
379742.09) Total supplied (M = 82989.09, SD = 84135.70); r (32) = 0.84, p = 0.00.”

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The Chart represents the scatter plot on the relationship between the demand and
supply in university education in Nigeria from 1978/79 – 2011/12

15. Conclusion
1. The demand for university education in the last 34 years (1978/79
-2011/12) is far greater than the supply.
2. There has been unsatisfied supply of university education in Nigeria since
the 1978/79 academic year, when over 82% of the candidates demanding
for university education failed to secure admissions.
3. More than 83% of candidates seeking university admissions during
1992/93, and 94.9% during 2002/03 academic sessions did not get it.
4. There is a report from NUC that shows the gross inadequate provision of
higher education in Nigeria due to absence of improved facilities to cope
with the increasing demand for university education.
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16. Recommendations
1. Better Educational Planning,
2. Curbing Financial Wastage in Nigerian University
System ,
3. Downsize the Number of Support Staff in Nigerian
University System,
4. Re-training of Academic Staff in NUS to Embrace ICT/e-
Learning ,
5. Mandate all Universities to Establish Distance Learning
Programs ,
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17. 6. Revision of Education Trust Fund Support for Book and
Journal Production,
7. The issue of quota system must be re-addressed,
8. The existing conventional universities should be well
funded in order to improve on infrastructural facilities,
9. Private universities can still be encouraged but profit-
making should be minimized, and
10. Open Universities and Distance Learning (ODL) should
be encouraged.
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18. Thank you for your kind
attention!
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Obafemi Awolowo
University

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Amadu Bello University, Zaria

23. University of
Nigeria, Nsukka.
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