Abstract
The poor and declining state of higher education in underdeveloped countries is a significant concern to education stakeholders in the affected countries. The quest for a foreign degree is evident in the high population of education tourism seekers abroad. Nigeria is one of such nations with declining quality of higher education, based on the global ranking that positions Nigeria higher institutions at the bottom of recognised institutions in Africa. The research investigation focused on the quality of the higher education institution system in Nigeria. Despite the emergence of private institutions in the country, the quality of education has not significantly improved. This is a major motivation for this study which seeks to identify the problem and possible actions that may be implemented to improve the current state. The study involved developing a Total Quality Management (TQM) Model for higher institutions in Nigeria. Quality indicators such as quality of the learners, quality of learning environment, the relevance of the contents, quality of the process of selecting and training the instructors, and quality of the learning outcome among others were examined. The study was carried out across twelve higher institutions, consisting of six private universities and six public universities, systematically stratified for diverse coverage of the country's six geopolitical zones. The data were collected through the administration of questionnaires across 120 teaching staff members and 925 students. They were analysed by capturing the frequency of Likert scale outcomes, stepwise regression, and correlation to access the factors that have significant relationships with the quality of education indicators. The results show poor state of the classroom environment in most of the institutions. Most institutions lacked standard libraries, while library staff attitudes discourage students' patronage, hence a poor library culture. Most of the institutions had limited residential facilities for students and staff. Equally, most of the institutions were yet to integrate electronic learning technology in their system fully. Furthermore, the student-lecturer relationship is relatively poor, and students and sometimes staff were not integrated in most institutions' decision-making process. The TQM model developed shows the most significant variables influencing the quality of education in higher institutions. The findings further showed that the practices of TQM in Nigerian higher institutions is still relatively poor. This study recommends that deliberate effort be made by institutions leadership that involves both students and staff members in the adoption and implementation of TQM practices. TQM should be introduced as a short course made compulsory for the first-year students and voluntary for higher institutions staff.
Ph.D. (Engineering Management)