The role of universities in human capital development implications for national transformation

Journal of Education and Practice
ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol.4, No.23, 2013

www.iiste.org

The Role of Universities in Human Capital Development:
Implications for National Transformation
Osim, Rosemary Onya.* Uchendu, Chika C. * Dr. William E. Ekpiken
Department of Educational Administration and Planning, University of Calabar, Calabar
*
E-mail rosemaryosim@gmail.com
Abstract
This study investigated the role of Universities in human capital development in Cross River State and its
implication for national transformation. Ex-post facto design was adopted in the study. Two research questions
and hypotheses respectively were raised to guide the study. A sample of 227 lecturers were drawn from a
population of 1,517 lecturers from the two universities. The Role of Universities in Human Capital Development
for National Transformation Questionnaire (TRUIHCDFNTQ) was used to generate data. The data were
analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. From the results, it was concluded that
opportunities for attending retraining programmes and conferences/workshops had significant relationship with
lecturers’ transformation in terms of their teaching effectiveness and subsequent national transformation. Based
on the findings it was recommended that; Government should provide funds to the universities to sponsor
lecturers to attend retraining programmes.
Keywords: The Role of Universities, Human Capital Development, National Transformation.
1. Introduction
There is no doubting the fact that, education is the bedrock of national development and transformation.
Acquisition of knowledge, skills and competences needed for useful lives of the citizenry in the society can be
possible through education.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) in her national policy on education asserts that “education is the
instrument par excellence for effecting national development”. What this implies is that at any point in time,
education must respond to the need of national development. It also means that the operators of the education
system (including teachers) must respond to changes as result of dynamic nature of education.
The role of teachers in educational goal attainment as well as national transformation is central and cannot be
disputed. The same policy observes that “no educational system can rise above the level of it teachers”.
From time to time, as successive governments take up the mantle of leadership, they come up with different
national developmental plans. Many have come and gone without the implementation of such plans. Many
factors incapacitate such plans. The factors include: inadequate capable human capital to execute such plans.
The present administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2011 came up with a new national
developmental plan cristened “The transformation Agenda” (2011-2015). This presently is ongoing. The agenda
which draws its inspiration from vision 20:20:20 seeks to bring about transformation in all facets the national life.
Nigeria’s vision 20:20:20, according to Wikepedia, the free encyclopedia is a policy which states that “by 2020
Nigeria will be one of the 20 largest economics in the word, able to consolidate its leadership role in Africa and
establish itself as a significant player in the global economic and political arena. Nigeria is said to be biggest
economy in the West African sub region. The considerable resource endowment and coastal location gives the
country potential for growth. But for about the past 30 years these potential seems not to have been harnessed
hence history of economic stagnation, declining welfare, and social instability has undermined development. But
recently, Nigeria has been experiencing a growth turnaround.
The previous administration earlier declared the intention to pursue the vision of placing Nigeria among the 20
largest economies in the world by 2020 and current administration is committed to the attainment of this vision.
It is based on this vision that the present administration launched the transformation agenda
What does transformation connote? It means changing from one quality to a better and more attractive one. The
world is full of competiveness in all spheres. Hence, if Nigeria must be ranked among the first twenty (20)
developed countries by the year 2020, then the transformation agenda is inevitable. According to Anyim (2012)
“transformation of a country connotes rapid incremental changes in the development indices of that country i.e.
comparatively high Gross Domestic product (GDP) and High Human Development Index (HDI), achieved
through deliberate intervention policies, appropriately and faithfully implemented.
The transformation agenda in Nigeria according to Opara and Isa (2012) in Jarim and Danladi (2013) “is a
deliberate attempt by the Goodluck administration to correct the flaws in the country’s drive for development
after many years of absence of long term perspective, lack of continuity, consistence and commitment to agreed
policies” (p.4). The president in attempt to address the way business was done in government and therefore
advocated for a drastic change through the national transformation agenda in all spheres of the economy.
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In the education sector, Isa and Onyelelue (2012) stated that the Federal Government of Nigeria views Nigeria’s
sound educational background as the tool that will fast track Nigeria’s problem. In order to achieve this vision,
Isa and Onyelelue (2012) reported a one year strategy for the development of the following key areas:
• Strengthen the institutional management of education.
• Standards and quality assurance.
• Teacher education and development
• Access and equity
• Funding, partnership and resource mobilization.
• Technical and vocational education and training. (p. 8).
It is believed that the identification of these key areas will help in the reform measures.
Transformation is about people until habits and attitude change, nothing changes. The important inputs of
transformation are technology, knowledge research and development. This obviously cannot be successful
without the human being as a major player. These humans are referred to as Human Capital (HC).
Human capital has been defined variously by different authors. To Scultz (1993), it is a key element in
improving a firm assets and employees in order to increase productivity as well as sustain competitive advantage.
Marimuthu, Arokiasamy and Ismail (2009) opined that to sustain competitiveness in any organization, human
capital becomes an instrument use to increase productivity. The study by Marimuthu, Arokiasamy and Ismail
(2009) further maintained that human capital refer to processes that relate to training, education and other
professional initiatives in order to increase levels of knowledge, skills, abilities, values and social assets of an
employee that will ultimately lead to the employee’s satisfaction and performance and eventually on firm’s
performance. According to Rastogi (2000), human capital is an important input for organization especially for
employees continuous improvement mainly on knowledge, skills and abilities. Furthermore, organizations for
economic cooperation and development (OESD 2001:18) defined human capital as “knowledge, skills,
competences and attribute embodied individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic
well-being.
In school system, a human capital constitutes the teaching workforce. As a result of global innovativeness and
competitiveness in technology and research, there is need for teaching workforce to be developed by the
universities to meet current academic challenges. This can be achieved through in-service training and regular
conference and workshop attendance. Noe, Hollenbeck Gerhart and Wright (2003) maintained that human
capital development and enhancement impacts positively on organizational performance.
A study conducted by Seleim, Ashour and Bontis (2007) analyzed on the relationship between human capital
indicators such as training attended and performance in software companies. The result showed high
performance with high productivity which could be translated to organizational performances.
In another study researched by William (2006) on staff development programmes and secondary school teachers
work performance in Uyo Senatorial District Akwa Ibom state of Nigeria, it revealed a significant relationship
between staff training and teachers’ job performance.
Etor (2011) projects some reasons why many workers need professional and further education. They include
need to update their knowledge, skills, work habit in line with changes in technology and techniques of
production etc. For instance, in the university system, there initial training were not taught certain courses. But as
a result of constant curriculum reviews, certain courses or instructional method are now novel to them. The only
way such can still remain relevant in the system is to retrained, through workshops and conferences. A typical
example is the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) and entrepreneurial skill
courses in the universities. How can lecturers (the human capital) be agent of transformation if they themselves
are not further developed to meet current challenges in the educational sector? Today, the use of the portal is
being advocated for university accreditations. All these lead to a transformation in the education system but the
Human capital that have to handle these things must be trained and retrained so as to acquire the skills and
competences require to do the job. UNESCO (2002) affirms that the introduction of open distance learning
(ODL) has stimulated the interest of educators and trainers in the use of the internet based and multi-media
technologies and by recognizing that the traditional ways of organizing education requires reinforcement by
innovative methods of the fundamental rights of all people to learn is to be fulfilled.
Apart from training programmes Whitehead (1990) pointed out that attending conferences and workshops
improved head teachers’ efficiency as it gives opportunity to relate with one another from different schools,
share problems. Akpan (2008) found that conferences and workshop attendance provided a common ground for
problem-handling initiative and therefore related significantly with high productivity.
2. Statement of the problem
In recent times, Nigerian streets have flooded with millions of unemployed graduates who roam about search of
already prepared jobs. Many of them who studied courses that require exhibition of practical skills could not
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exhibit during job interviews. Lecturers have been blamed for not teaching students well while students have
been accused of depending on exam malpractice for their acclaimed success.
Obviously worried about this unfortunate scenario, the Federal Government of Nigerian (FGN), became
uncomfortable with such practices. Hence, its advocacy for national transformation and such has prepared a
national transformation agenda (policy). This calls for a rethink in all sectors of the economy including education.
This study is investigating ways, methodologies and strategies of repositioning these change agents
(transformational) agents who are teachers and lecturers in Nigeria’s higher institutions through the inculcation
of required skills and competences. Hence it look at the possibilities embedded in the use of in-service training
through conferences, workshops and seminars.
The problem of this therefore is, how can the Human capital (HC) that is responsible for inculcating knowledge,
skills and competences required for effective university education be developed, through in-service training and
conference/workshop attendance so as to bring about the desired national transformation through the products of
the university. It is on this basis that the researcher embarked on this study.
3. Hypotheses
Ho1: Opportunities created by attending retraining programmes (conferences, workshops and seminars) by
Nigerian university lecturers has no significant relationship with their effectiveness in teaching service delivery
in Cross River State.
Ho2: Retraining programmes by Nigerian universities in conferences/workshops and seminar attendance has no
significant relationship with educational transformation in universities in Cross River State of Nigeria
4. Methodology
The research design adopted for this study was survey research design. The study area is Cross River State, one
of the states in the south-south geo-political zone. The population of the study is made up of 1,517 lecturers from
university of Calabar and Cross River State University of Technology, Calabar.
The research adopted a stratified random sampling method to select 15% of the population as sample for the
study. Hence, 227 lecturers were used for that purpose. The instrument for data collection was a researchers’
constructed questionnaire titled The Role of Universities in Human Capital Development for National
Transformation Questionnaire (TRUIHCDFNTQ). It consisted of 20 items, 10 for each sub-variable. The
instrument was given to experts in test and Measurement for validation. The internal consistency of the
instrument was established using Chrombach coefficient alpha. The coefficient ranged from 062-0.78 after
ascertaining the internal consistency, the instrument was then administered to the respondents. There was 100
percent return. The data were analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Coefficient.
4.1 Findings and Results:
4.1.1 Hypothesis 1:
Opportunities created by attending retraining programmes (conferences, workshops and seminars) by Nigerian
university lecturers has no significant relationship with their effectiveness in teaching service delivery in Cross
River State.
Table 1: Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation on Relationship between Retraining programmes and Effective
Service Delivery. N = 227
Variables
Attending retraining programme

∑X
∑Y
1226

∑X2
∑Y2

∑XY r - cal

2328
3412 0.643

Effective National Transformation 999
p < 0.05, df = 225, correlation r = 0.138

2169

The result from table one revealed that at 0.05 level of significance and at 223 degree of freedom, the calculated
r-value of 0.643 was greater than the critical r-value of 0.138. Thus, the null hypothesis was rejected. The result
implies that attending retraining programme significantly relate to effective national transformation.
4.1.2 Hypothesis 2:
Retraining programmes by Nigerian university teachers in conferences /workshops and seminar attendance has
no significant relationship with educational transformation in universities in Cross River State.

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Table 2: Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation on the Relationship Between In-service Training and National
Transformation. N = 227
∑X
∑Y

∑X2
∑Y2

Attendance at conferences
Workshops

1231

2299

Effective National Transformation 999

2169

Variables

∑XY r - cal

3426 0.638

p < 0.05, df = 225, correlation r = 0.138
The result of this table also revealed that at 0.05 level of significance and at 225 degree of freedom, the
calculated r-value of 0.638 was greater than the critical r-value of 0.138. Thus, the null hypothesis was rejected.
The result implies that lecturers attendance at conferences/workshops showed a high positive relationship with
national transformation.
5. Discussion
The results in table one indicates that the calculated r-value of 0.643 is far greater than the correlation r-value of
0.138. The implication of this result is that human capital development in terms of providing opportunities for
university lecturers to continuously update themselves through retraining programme will transform their
traditional teaching methods to modern one. This will enhance their use of modern teaching equipment, develop
their ICT skills, improve their subject matter mastery and increase their communication skills. The acquisition of
skills and competences by lecturers will consequently transform the students will come out as products of the
universities to transform the society. The result of this analysis is in consonant with the findings of William 2006
who found that staff training had a significant relationship with teachers’ job performance.
This result also agreed with the findings of Seleim, Ashour and Bontis (2007) who revealed that employees who
attended training became superstar performers with high productivity which could be translated to organizational
performances.
The analysis of hypothesis two (2) revealed a very high positive relationship with effective national
transformation in the sense that the calculated r-value of 0.638 was greater than the correlation r-value of 0.138.
by implication, it means that when lecturers are exposed to attending conferences and workshops, they achieve
knowledge, skills and competences in various dimensions that lead to transformation in their jobs. This in turn,
affects the quality of teaching which they impact on the students who will eventually be transformed into useful
agents of national transformation.
The result of this finding is in agreement with White (1990) who maintained that when head teachers attend
conferences and workshops, it gives them the opportunity of interacting with their colleagues and by so doing,
learn new skills of problem solving. This result further conforms to Akpan (2008) who found that conferences
and workshops provided a common ground where unity fostered high problem handling initiative which in turn
translates into high productivity in principals’ administrative roles.
6. Conclusion
From the result of the findings, it was concluded that human capital development in terms of opportunities for
attending retraining programmes and conference/workshop is a very important tool for lecturers’ transformation
in their teaching approaches. This in turn will transform the products of the university who hopefully will
become veritable agents of national transformation by contributing positively to the development of the society.
7. Recommendations
Based on the result of the findings, the following recommendations are made;
i.
The government should fund the universities sufficiently so that lecturers can be sponsored to
attend retraining programmes so as to update their knowledge, skills and competences.
ii.
University management should make conference/workshop attendance compulsory for all
lecturers so as to continuously update the human capital for national transformation.
References
Akpan, B. (2008) Teachers’ Conference and its roles in Educational Development. Lagos: Fino Press.
Anyim, P. (2012) Nigeria in Transformation. Being a paper presented at Executive Intelligent Management
Course at the Institute for Security studies, Lower usuma Dam, Abuja. Thursday 2nd February.
Etor, R. B. (2011) Distance Learning Management in Higher Education. In S. U. Bassey & U. U. Bassey (2011)

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Management of Higher Education in Africa Uyo: Abam Publishing.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) National Policy on Education. Lagos: NERDC Press.
Isa, A. & Onyelelue, G. (2012) “Nigeria Transformation Agenda: The education Sector reform” In
Transformation Train. Nigeria on the March to Greatness 1 (1).
Jarim, M. M. & Danladi, E. N. (2013). Transformation Agenda in Nigeria’s Education Sector and the Threat of
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performance: Evidence from
Noe, R.A., Hollenback, J. R. Gerhart, B. & Wright, P. M. (2003) Human Resource Management: Gaining a
Competitive Advantage (4th ed). Boston: McGraw Hill.
Organization for Economics Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2001) The Well being of Nations: The
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Rastogi, P. N. (2002) Sustaining enterprise Competitiveness. Is Capital the answer? Human System Management
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Schultz, T. W. (1993). The Economic Importance of Human Capital in Modernization. Education Economics,
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Seleim, A., Ashour, A. & Bentis, N. (2007). Human Capital and Organizational Performance: A Study of
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UNESCO (2002) Open and Distance Learning: Trends, Policy and Strategy: Paris: UNESCO.
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