BOOM IN FIRST CLASS HONOURS AWARDS

First class degrees, like any other, should be earned

At Lead City University’s 18th convocation ceremony in Ibadan recently, no fewer than 290 students achieved first-class honours out of 2,162 students conferred with undergraduate degrees. Even more impressive, Covenant University, Ota, in October 357 students graduated with first class honours out of 1,646, outperforming its last year’s figure with similar grades by 18. But there is a worrying concern on the surge in first class degrees awards. Many argue that “paper titles” are becoming a national obsession. Stakeholders in the educational sector, and other individuals, have warned that the high volume of first-class degrees in private universities could indicate a shift toward “marketing” excellence rather than earning it. Some vice-chancellors from established public institutions have pointed out that a university churning out hundreds of students where over 15–20 per cent are in the first-class category invites “probing questions” about standards.

The advent of private universities in Nigeria is a welcome development. Even though their capacity is limited, accommodating less than 5 per cent of the student population, they are filling a void. The public universities had become anything but centres for excellence, battling with the challenge of poor pay, outdated equipment, overcrowded classrooms, and endless strikes. Strikes by lecturers and non-academic staff resulted in a situation in which students attending these public universities were never certain when they would graduate. These inadequacies and many other irregularities in the Nigerian education system have contributed to the declining quality that has continued to elicit concern from stakeholders.

Unfortunately, the emergence of private universities does not seem to be making much difference in certain areas. There is no doubt that a few of the private universities meet international standard and have raised the bar in terms of quality. However, many of the 150 private universities are suspect, some more of glorified secondary schools, and raising questions about the accreditation process. Among other things, many lecturers who can’t hold their own in public universities are being hired as professors, and even vice chancellors in some of these private universities.

In 2024, about 17 per cent of graduates from the top ten private universities earned first-class honours, compared to only 3 per cent in federal and state universities. For instance, of late, one in five students in Covenant University graduate with a first class. Last July, Babcock University, Ilisan, Ogun State, graduated 2,543, students with 241 recording First Class Honours. The University of Lagos in contrast graduated 17,464 students with only 379 (2 per cent) with first-class honours. Olabisi University, Ago Iwoye graduated 6,257 recently with 55 in the first-class category. “A situation where you have a university graduating a few hundred students and, among them, over one hundred bag first-class degrees leaves room for probing questions,” said the vice-

chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ganiyu Olatunde. “No one is saying that students who deserve first-class degrees should not be given to them. Hard work, dedication, and commitment should be rewarded. However, the manner some universities go about placing students in that category should be checked.”

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The explosion in the numbers of first-class degrees need not be a matter for alarm if the products display high quality standards outside the classrooms. But they are not, coming out like the run -of- the- mills graduates with certificates which many cannot defend – a threat to educational integrity. The development of a sound educational system, according to Afe Babalola, SAN, proprietor of a respected private university, requires enormous resources for research, infrastructural development, and the employment of quality academic and non-academic staff. The National Universities Commission (NUC) should strive to enforce uniform standards to ensure many of these degrees are worth more than the papers on which they are written.