by our alma mater. I believe that
everybody has a chance to be successful
whether they went to a university or
polytechnic. Our success is in our hands.
This write-up is not meant to degrade
HND holders. I am one of those that are
strongly against the discrimination
against HND holders.
However, the
reality on ground (due to the
discrimination) is that BSc is still more
superior to HND and I have given reasons
below to state the obvious but bitter
truth.
1 Entrance Qualification – The entrance
qualification to the university is more
stringent than that to the polytechnic. The
UTME cut off for universities is higher
than that of polytechnics. All universities
require a minimum of 5 credits in
WASSCE/NECO while most polytechnics
accept 4 credits as minimum requirement.
It is well accepted that the entrance
qualification to any institution says a lot
about the prestige attached to such
institution.
2 Quality of Lecturers- You cannot
compare the quality of lecturers in the
university to that of the polytechnic.
Most university lecturers are professors
and PhD holders with decades of teaching
and research experience to show for it.
Some of them are universally renowned
professors. The head of universities are
always renowned and experienced
academic professors. Most Master degree
holders in universities are mere assistant
lecturers. The same cannot be said of
polytechnics where most of their
‘experienced’ lecturers are mere BSc
holders. Most rectors of polytechnics are
Msc holders, only a few have PhD. Even
corps members lecture polytechnic
students. Has it ever occurred to you why
polytechnics find it hard to employ even
their own products (HND holders) to
lecture? Instead, they employ mostly
university grads to teach.
3 Research Work- University is the
bedrock of research work. Research work
lays the foundation of advancement and
any sane society will rate any higher
institution by the quality of their
research. Unfortunately, the quality of
research work in Nigerian universities is
poor but this is still far better than that
of polytechnics that do absolutely nothing
(or very negligible research work).
4 Funding- Universities are much more
funded than polytechnics. One of the
metrics for determining the quality of an
institution is the level of funding. No
wonder, the government and the media
pay more attention to the demand of
ASUU over ASUP. Thus, you will expect a
product of a university to be better
trained than that of a polytechnic.
5 Quality of students – The brightest,
youngest and most motivated students go to the universities. Go to a polytechnic
and what you will see a lot of dejected,
not-so-young students who have written
UTME many times but have not
succeeded. A few in the polytechnics are
young and bright, but they are few and
far between. The majority of young and
bright students, just fresh from
secondary school are found within the 4
walls of the university. Thus, most
university grads are of higher intellectual
quality than their poly counterparts.
6 Size and Beauty of Campus – A lot can
be said about the quality of an institution
by the architectural structures of the
institutions. Let’s take the elite
universities and polytechnics in Nigeria
for instance. One cannot compare the
architectural edifices in the prestigious
OAU, UI, ABU, UNN, UNILAG, UNIBEN to
that of Yabatech, Kadpoly, Auchi, Bida
Poly or any polytechnic in Nigeria. No
polytechnic in Nigeria can even compete
with some 2nd and 3rd generation
universities like FUT Minna, UniJos, FUTA,
etc in terms of structures.
7 Preference / Demand – The preference
for BSc is higher than for OND/HND. All
or almost all aspiring students wish to go
to the university. Employers generally
prefer BSc holders over HND holders.
HND holders are seen as middle level
manpower (That was the intent when
polytechnics were initially created). There
are more opportunities for BSc holders
not just within the country but outside
Nigeria. Jobs and scholarship
opportunities abound for BSc holders and
undergraduates while it is almost non-
existent for HND holders.
8 Self Esteem – Last but not the least, an
average BSc holder is more confident
than an average HND holder. This is
however not the fault of HND holders
who unfortunately have to face stiff
discrimination in the labour market, thus
negatively impacting on their self esteem.
Your comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment