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RMRDC, TETFund, WAITRO foster research findings to practical solutions
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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Federal Government has sought China’s model to drive Nigeria’s industrialisation.
This is even as it lamented the persistent dichotomy between Higher National Diploma (HND) and university degree holders, saying the disparity had demoralised technical students and distorted career progression in the civil service and industry.
The Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof Idris Bugaje, raised the concern in Abuja yesterday at a strategic session organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) in partnership with the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organisations (WAITRO).
This came as WAITRO Secretary-General, Benjin Luo, said Nigeria needed stronger institutions to bridge the gap between academic research and the practical requirements of businesses.
Luo said researchers and industries often operated in separate environments, with academics focused on research while manufacturers sought solutions to production challenges and improved productivity.
He said intermediary organisations could translate industrial needs into research projects and help researchers assess market demand and commercialise their innovations.
Luo expressed optimism that Nigeria could attract technology and investment through partnerships among local industries, tertiary institutions and international research organisations.
On the HND/BSc dichotomy, Bugaje argued that polytechnics were specifically designed to produce the technicians, technologists and skilled artisans needed to drive manufacturing, infrastructure development and technological innovation.
According to him, while universities focus largely on theoretical research and conceptual frameworks, polytechnics are expected to equip students with practical competencies required to translate knowledge into industrial production.
The NBTE executive secretary said the long-standing preference for university degrees over HND qualifications had discouraged technical students and created distortions in career paths across the public and private sectors.
He said legislative efforts had been made to address the disparity, adding that a BTech Honours Bill recently passed by the Senate was expected to contribute to changing the situation if signed into law.
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He called on Nigeria to learn from China’s integration of technical education with industrial policy, saying the country could accelerate local manufacturing, create jobs and reduce dependence on imported products by strengthening its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system.
“Long-standing socio-cultural and administrative biases favouring university degrees over Higher National Diplomas (HND) have demoralised technical students and distorted career paths in the civil service and industry,” he said.
To strengthen the relationship between polytechnic education and industrialisation, he called for greater involvement of manufacturing companies in reviewing academic curricula, upgrading laboratories and workshops and expanding students’ exposure to industrial environments.
He said the NBTE had provided 90 per cent of the minimum academic standards for polytechnic programmes, leaving institutions with 10 per cent flexibility to adapt curricula to the needs of local industries.
He advocated the establishment of industry advisory boards at the faculty and school levels of polytechnics to ensure that training programmes reflected changing workplace demands.
The NBTE chief proposed transforming the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) into structured, long-term apprenticeships through which students could gain experience working on actual production lines while completing their studies.
Citing China’s industrial transformation, Bugaje said Nigeria could learn from a system in which technical institutions maintained close relationships with factories and industrial zones, allowing students to combine classroom instruction with practical manufacturing experience.
Earlier, the Director-General of RMRDC, Prof Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, called for stronger collaboration between tertiary institutions and industries to ensure that research findings translated into commercially viable products, technologies and jobs.
He said the gap between academic research and industrial application had limited the economic benefits Nigeria derived from investments in research and development.
According to him, while universities and research institutions generate findings, industries require practical technologies and innovative solutions to improve productivity and competitiveness.
Ike-Muonso said RMRDC’s engagement with WAITRO and Chinese innovation institutions was intended to strengthen research collaboration, technology transfer, capacity building and the commercialisation of research outputs.
He disclosed that RMRDC had signed a quadripartite memorandum of understanding with the Shanghai Yangtze Delta Innovation Institute, Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute and Anhui Yangtze Delta Innovation Institute under the National Innovation Centre par Excellence.
He said the partnership would provide opportunities for joint research, technology transfer and the adaptation of technologies to Nigeria’s industrial environment.
