Higher Education and Poverty Reduction Among the Youth

HIGHER EDUCATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION AMONG THE YOUTH BY OKUNOLA, PHILIP OLAYIDE (Ph. D), ONYENE. V. E(Ph. D. )(emailprotected com) SUBAR, S. TAYO. ASHIRU, AL-MAHROOF OLASEEWO (emailprotected ca) PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 8TH REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH POLICY NETWORK VENUE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE (IITA), IBADAN AUGUST, 2008 ABSTRACTEducation in Nigeria and high education in particular, are fundamental to the construction of a knowledge economy and worth sequence society in any nation hence, from a worldwide perspective, economic, political, expert and social tuitions are increasingly driven by the advancement and application of knowledge, skills and socialization acquired in the process of this education. This paper presents an empirical study of high education and indigence reduction among the early days using the University of Lagos, Nigeria. A total of 330 juvenility creation comprised the sample drawn from the eight facultie s on campus.Three hypotheses were formulated and tried using chi-square statistical ray of light at 0. 05 take aim of significance. The major findings are that high(prenominal) education is meaning(a) in exposing the young person to talent disc everywherey, physical and knowing increase among the youth and has high potency reduction for mendicancy reduction among the youth. Introduction The dawn of the 21st century has brought profound and fundamental changes to economics, technology, politics, culture, morals, social determine and ethics. Globalization is the driving force in all these changes.While globalization has induced the get around of time and space, it has also expanded opportunities and challenges for individuals and for nations and has sidelined the weak and unprepared. Anya (2002). The task of the university education exit then be to empower the youths to be able to cope with the dynamics of globalization. Consequently the university must have an organic lin kage with the industrial and economic surround to contribute to economic growth of the nation. Education has for long been recognized and accepted as a panacea for Nigerias ills and woes. Particularly so is the case of higher(prenominal) education.Stupendous amount of money and other re origins, even though pathetic are expended on the universities annually. Unarguably al stakeholders look up to the universities as the nations beacon of hope, light and obligingization. For this reason, besides over 50 public universities are springing up all over the nooks and crannies of the country (Ejiogu and Onyene, 2006). Nigeria s philosophy of education is aimed at education that foster the worth and development of the individual, for each individuals sake, and for the general development of the society there is ingest for empowerment so as to break the imprisonment of poverty for necessary liberation.Are the Nigerian youths hopeful? Do they see the light? Are they civilized? The quest a nd agitation for the empowerment of the youth and t heritor liberation with and through higher education is fast becoming almost hysterical given the often reported cases of incessant strike actions by lecturers, lack or inadequate infrastructures in the universities, brain drain, and so on, within the university system. Instance abound when university graduates are non employable in the labour market.The situation becomes worrisome and intriguing with the jet-speed range of opening up of new universities with its attendant alleged un trading of unqualified staff, and stragglers from older universities. The Concept of high Education and Poverty higher(prenominal) education means dissimilar things to many people, but the purpose is perceived to be the same. It is the type of education that focuses on professionalization, by empowering the partaker of this level of education with skills that are not of necessity the function of formal educational process.This type of skills eman ates from students interaction with their peers, teachers and other members of their academic community. Though these experiences that culminate into skills makes students sojourn in their academic environment a know one, which necessitates the saying short-lived through the school without the school passing through the student The proponents of this statement are of the opinion that students who passed through the school without the school passing through them have learnt only partially regardless of their grades at the end of their academic pursuit in the university, thereby limiting their opportunities.This is corroborated by Gay 2005, who opined that poverty can only be eliminated if the students to whom implicit promises are being by urging them to attend school actually receive some tangible well-being for their years spent in school. higher(prenominal) education includes teaching, research and social service activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes twain the undergraduate level (somemultiplication referred to as third education and the graduate school). Higher education generally involves work towards a detail level or foundation for horizontal surface qualification.In most developed countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enters higher education is therefore every important to national economy, both as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy. Schofield, K. 1999. Higher education is based on theoretical expertise. It might be contrasted with higher vocational education, which concentrates on both practice and theory. Deciding to further education and attain a degree tends to improve many aspects of life.People with college degrees tend to earn to a greater extent money and salary increases over the years are more substantial than for those that do not have a college degree or university degree. Additionally, people that have a college degree are less likely to g o through long bouts of unemployment. However attaining certifications and/or degrees tie in to your field can yield better jobs and ongoing opportunities (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). University qualifications need to match employers and labour market requirements as closely as possible.Mass unemployment of university graduates is the result where university programmes and the labour market are at part. The issue of relevance, utilitarian criteria based on prospects of income generation at completion of a programme should be uppermost in the programmes provided by universities. The idea of pursuing knowledge for its own sake or of the sake of engaging in a programme of study given a passion for learning in a particular subject field will seem acquaint if it is remembered at all. (Roberts, 1999).Youth (in the developed world) like all identities, is a culturally relative manifestation whose meanings and applications are specific to certain times and manifestation whose mean ing and applications are specific to certain times and locales. For those living in present-day western cultures, the term youth refers to persons who are no endless peasantren and not yet adults. In a strictly legal sense, the term is typically applied to a person from the time of their early teens until a top between 16 and 21, after which the person is legally an adult. As an adult they are endowed priviledges such as the right to vote and consume intoxicant e. c. used colloquially, however, the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference from physically adolescent to those in their late 20s, the United Nations, for example, defines youth as people between the ages of 15 and 24 years inclusive (United Nations Education and Scientific nipperren Organisation, 2002b). Poverty refers to a situation and process of serious red or lack of resources and material necessary for living within a minimum precedent conducive to human dignity and well being (NE ST, 1991). Poverty connotes deprivation of the means of subsistence. The manifestation of poverty, i. inadequate distribution of resources, access to basic social services like education and health, food scarcity, low life expectancy, and lack of community in decision making processes (Braun, 1999, Carrey 1999 universe of discourse Bank 1999 Web et al 1992Ravnborg, 1996). For the purpose of this paper poverty is viewed as deprivation of common necessities that determine the lineament of life, which include food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, and may also include the deprivation of opportunities to learn, to obtain better employment to escape poverty and/or to jazz the respect of fellow citizens.This can be measured in terms of absolute or relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent in over time between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is call for to s ustain the human body, which may lead to extreme poverty. United Nations 2002 report defines extreme poverty as poverty that kills, depriving individuals of the means to stay alive in the present of hunger, disease and environmental hazards.This is further substantiated by Moore (2007) in his report for the piece Bank, that extreme poverty implies living on less than 1 dollar bill per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day. The proportion of the developing worlds population living in extreme economic poverty fell from 28 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2001. Looking at the period 1981 2001, the percentage of the worlds population living on less than $1 per day has halved.Analysis of social aspects of poverty links conditions of scarcity to aspects of the distribution of resources and power in a society and recognizes that poverty may be a function of the diminished capability of people to live the kinds of lives they entertain. The social aspects of poverty may includ e lack of access to information, education, health care, or political power. Poverty may also be understood as an aspect of unequal social status and inequitable social relationships, experienced as exclusion, dependency, and diminished capacity to participate, or to develop meaningful connections with other people in society. bidding of the Problem The growth and development of this country will to a large extent be determined by quality, in character and in learning, of the products of our universities. UNESCO policy (1997) posited that basic education for all should incorporate literacy, income generation, health care, child care, family planning, food management, union education, labour laws, civil and voting rights, peace education, environmental management, HIV/AIDS and drug awareness (UNESCO 2002). The questions are what is the hope of Nigerian youth in universities? Do they really discover their potentials having gone through the university?What then can we say are the contr ibutions of Nigeria universities to poverty reduction among the Nigerian youth? It becomes imperative, therefore, to reassure the potency of Nigerian higher education for poverty reduction among the youth and to proffer measures for enhancement and sustainability of youth empowerment. Methodology The study was carried out using the descriptive survey research design. The youths in University of Lagos constituted the study which comprises 500 respondents. They were diploma and 100-300 level students, from the eight faculties of the University of Lagos, Akoka campus, Lagos, Nigeria.Higher Education Potency for Poverty Reduction Questionnaire (HEPPRQ) designed by the researchers was the data-gathering instrument. It measure sure such poverty reduction potencies as talent discovery, facilitation of mind development in the youth, good leadership skills, enabling intellectual development, development of social ethics through positive interaction, exposure to entrepreneurial activities, p rovision of mindset for creative ideas, preparation for rendering payable service (income generation), inculcation of technological ideas for product development, ego esteem mong peers, position of youth for global alignment with contemporaries in the western world and realization of the academic inclination (discipline). Colleagues confirm the face validity and reliability of the instrument The researchers personally distributed the questionnaire to 500 respondents across the 8 faculties on campus on different occasions some of the respondents returned the questionnaire immediately bit others returned theirs the following day. Of the 500 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 330 (66%) usable copies were returned.However, the analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. To be precise, simple percentage and chi-square statistical tools were used. Findings Total reply of the respondents was done by finding the percentages. The analysis is presented in tab le1. Table 1 Frequency count of responses and percentage ratings. S/N POTENCY INDICES ALWAYS very much SOMETIMES NEVER TOTAL 1 University environment and talent 200(60. 60%) 20(6. 06%) one hundred ten(33. 3%) 330 discovery 2 Higher education development and e 160(48. 48%) 90(27. 27%) 30(9. 09%) 50(15. 15%) 330 youths minds 3 Higher education and good leadership190(57. 57%) 50(15. 15%) 50(15. 15%) 40(12. 12%) 330 4 Higher education and intellectual 200(60. 60%) 50(15. 5%) 70(21. 21%) 10(3. 03%) 330 development 5 Social ethics through the university170(51. 51%) 70(21. 21%) 80(24. 24%) 10(3. 03%) 330 6 Higher education, parliamentary and 120(36. 36%) 110(33. 33%) 90(27. 27%) 10(3. 03%) 330 governance process 7 Entrepreneurial activities at school110 120(36. 6%) 80(24. 24%) 20(6. 06%) 330 (33. 33%) 8 University environment and mindset 170 100(30. 30%) 50(15. 15%) 10(3. 03%) 330 for creative ideas (51. 51%) 9 Rendering payable service (income 170 80 40(12. 12%) 40(12. 2%) 330 generation) (51. 51%) (24. 24%) 10 University education and 180 70 70 10 330 technological ideas (54. 54%) (21. 21%) (21. 21%) (3. 03%) 11 Employment with related industries 70 80 150 30 330 (21. 1%) (24. 24%) (45. 45%) (9. 09%) 12 Sustenance in the face of job 110 90 110 20 330 scarcity (33. 33%) (27. 27%) (33. 33%) (6. 06%) 13 Apart from certification, university 190 120 20 330 environment and self esteem (57. 57%) (36. 36%) (6. 6%) 14 Global alignment with my 190 100 30 10 330 contemporaries in the western world (57. 57%) (30. 30%) (9. 09%) (3. 03%) 15 Relevance of their academic 150 120 60 30 330 inclination (discipline) external (45. 45%) (36. 36%) (18. 18%) (9. 9%) their myopic perception scheme 1 There will be no evidentiary influence of higher education exposure on youth talent discovery. To test this hypothesis, the chi-square statistical tool was employed and tested at 0. 05 level of significance. The results are presented in table 2 below. Table 2 higher education and talent discovery. S/N Items Always Often sometimes Never Total 1. 200(60. 60%) 20(6. 06%) 110(33. 33%) - 330 2. 160(48. 48%) 90(27. 27%) 30(9. 09%) 50(15. 15%) 330 3. 190(57. 57%) 50(15. 15%) 50(15. 15%) 40(12. 12%) 330 4. 200(60. 60%) 50(15. 15%) 70(21. 21%) 10(3. 03%) 330 5. 170(51. 51%) 70(21. 21%) 80(24. 24%) 10(3. 3%) 330 Column Total 920 280 140 110 1650 Average Total 460(55. 75%) 140(16. 96%) 70(20. 60%) 55(6. 66%) 825 Chi-square observed value = 52. 63 distributor point of freedom = 12 Level of significance = 0. 05 Critical Value = 21. 03 The result revealed that the observed value (52. 63) is greater than the critical table value (21. 03) given 12 degree of freedom at 0. 5 level of significance. The result is therefore significant, thus prominent a basis for rejection of the null hypothesis. It can then be inferred that higher education has significant influence on the exposure of youth to talent discovery. supposition 2 Higher education will have no significant influence on the physical and intellectual development of the youth. To test this hypothesis, the chi-square statistical tool was employed and tested at 0. 05 level of significance. The results are presented in table 3 below. Table 3 Higher education, Physical and Intellectual Development S/N Items Always Often Sometimes Never Total 6 120(36. 36%) 110(33. 33%) 90(27. 27%) 10(3. 03%) 330 7 110(33. 33%) 120(36. 36%) 80(24. 24%) 20(6. 06%) 330 8 170(51. 51%) 100(30. 30%) 50(15. 15%) 10(3. 03%) 330 9 170(51. 1%) 80(24. 24%) 40(12. 12%) 40(12. 12%) 330 10 180(54. 54%) 70(21. 21%) 70(21. 21%) 10(3. 03%) 330 Column Total 750 480 330 90 1650 Average Total 375(45. 45%) 240(29. 09%) 165(20%) 45(5. 45%) 825 From the responses of the participants in the table, it is realized that the observed chi-square (49. 6) is greater than the critical value (21. 03) at 12 degree o f freedom and at 0. 05 level of significance. The result is therefore significant, thus higher education will have significant influence on physical and intellectual development of the youth. surmisal 3 Higher education will make significant provision of resources and materials for youths adequate living. To test this hypothesis, the chi-square statistical tool was employed and tested at 0. 05 level of significance. The results are presented in table 4 below. Table 4 Higher Education and Youth Adequate Living. S/N Items Always Often Sometimes Never Total 11 70(21. 21%) 80(24. 24%) 150(45. 45%) 30(9. 09%) 330 12 110(33. 33%) 110(33. 33%) 110(33. 33%) 20(6. 06%) 330 13 190(57. 57%) 20(6. 06%) 20(6. 06%) - 330 14 190(57. 57%) 30(9. 09%) 30(9. 9%) 10(3. 03%) 330 15 150(45. 45%) 120(36. 36%) 60(18. 18%) 30(9. 09%) 330 Column Total 710 510 370 60 1650 Average Total 355(43. 03%) 255(30. 90%) 185(22. 42%) 30(3. 63%) 825 Chi-square observed = 195. 41 Degree of freedom = 12 Si gnificance level = 0. 05 Critical value = 21. 03The table above reflects that the chi-square calculated (195. 41) exceed the critical value (21. 03) at 12 degree of freedom and 0. 05 level of significance. Thus higher education provides resources and materials for youths adequate living. Results and Discussion Analysis revealed that the study population consisted of 330 participants, 210(63. 63%) were males and 120 (36. 365) females whose age ranges from 15 to 30 years. 300(90. 90%) were single and 30 (9. 09%) were married. 40 (12. 12%) were in diploma 1, 10 (3. 03%) in diploma 2, 90 (27. 27%) in 100 level, 40 (12. 12%) in 200 level and 150 (45. 45%) in 300 level respectively.Table shows the item-by-item analysis of the perception of the youth towards the potency indices of higher education concerning poverty reduction. Majority of the youth (60. 60%) who participated in the study were of the opinion that university environment enables the youth to discover their talents and higher education poses challenges that enables intellectual development in the youth. 57. 57% of the respondents were in tune with the fact that higher education inculcates good leadership skills in the youth, apart from certification, being in the university environment gives them self esteem among their contemporaries in the western world.Also 51. 51% of the respondents who are in the majority opined that they gain social ethics through positive interaction with their peers while in the university. University environment provides the youth with the mindset for creative ideas and talents developed in the university prepare them to render payable service (income generation). 48. 48% of the participants who were in the majority believed that higher education facilitates the development of youths mind, 45. 45% were in tune with the fact that higher education make the youth realize the relevance of their academic inclination (discipline) outside their myopic perception.Majority of the respond ents (54. 54%) admit that university education inculcates technological ideas that can facilitate product development. However, 45. 45% of the respondents felt that youth only sometimes get employment with industries related to their discipline before graduation, but 21. 21% and 24. 24% of them believe that youth with university experience are always able to sustain themselves in the face of job scarcity, equal percentage the participants contends that it happens only sometimes. The findings in this study showed that Higher education is significant in exposing the youth to talent iscovery. Higher education has significant influence on physical and intellectual development of the youth. Higher education makes significant provision of resources and materials for youths adequate living. The significance of higher education in exposing the youth to talent discovery is corroborated by UNESCO policy 1997, which stipulates that basic education for all should incorporate literacy, income generation, health care, child care family planning, food management, union education, labour laws, civil and voting rights, peace education, environmental management, HIV/AIDS and drug awareness.Also the finding relating to higher education having significant influence on physical and intellectual development of youth, is justified by Subar and Ashiru 2007, they opined that the students (youth) are the core input into our educational institutions and the quality of the output (students) depends largely on the provision of infrastructures capable of directly or indirectly supporting, facilitating, influencing and encouraging the development of their potentials.Therefore, the knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes students (youth) acquire for life can make them fit into the cultural, social, economic and political contexts of the society in which they live, and to work and employment.The finding that education makes significant provision of resources and materials for youths a dequate living, emanates from the fact that youth get employment with industries related to their discipline even before graduation, youths with university experience are broadly speaking able to sustain themselves in the face of job scarcity, apart from certification, being in the university environment gives the youth self esteem among their peers, higher education positions youth for global alignment with their contemporaries in the western world and education makes the youth realize the relevance of the relevance of their academic inclination (discipline) utside their myopic perception. end point ? From the foregoing, it is permissible to justify the above stated with the statement of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, there have been steady increases in college job placement. This means that not only are college graduates more likely to find good jobs, but they progress after college.Ashiru and Owodiong 2008 declared that the absolute position of the universi ty graduate is declining as more educated workers are displacing less educated workers in the same job, this shows that the Nigerian youth should advance academically, this challenge to the youth is evidenced by the continuous increases in entry point requirement for jobs, for instance a degree certificate is required to teach in a secondary school, while doctoral degree is required to lecture in the university. The dawn of the 21st century has brought profound and fundamental changes to economics, technology, politics, culture, morals, social values and ethics through globalization. This globalization has induced the collapse of time and space it has also expanded opportunities and challenges for the individual and for the nations and has sidelined the weak and the unprepared. Recommendations Government and university authorities should ensure that university programmes and labour market are not at variance on the issue of relevance, utilitarian criteria based on prospects of incom e generation should be uppermost in the programmmes provided by the universities. ? Universities must have an organic linkage with the industrial and economic environment to contribute to economic growth. ? Acquisition of higher education should be encouraged among the youth, through scholarship awards for those who lack the resources in continuing heir education. ? Government should encourage enrollment expansion in tertiary institutions, which will avail more people the opportunity to higher education, hence empowerment through skill acquisition and enhanced intellectuality and human capital development that will necessitate innovative ideas for job creation, employment and economic advancement. ? University authorities should integrate entrepreneurial skills into academic programmes of students for rounded preparation for the world of work. Entrepreneurial Development Programme (EDP) should be provided in all faculties to enable undergraduates develop and market products and serv ices germane(predicate) to their areas of study. REFERENCES Anya, A. O. (2002), Science, Oil and the Future of Nigeria Economy, The Guardian (Lagos), Wednesday, March 13, p. 16. Ashiru, A. O. and Owodiong-Idemeko, N. L. (2008). Higher Education and the Millennium Development Goals. Lagos Unpublished M. Ed. Thesis. Braun, J. V. ,Teklu, T. and Webb P. (1999). 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