Internationalisation of higher education in southwestern Nigerian Universities: Issues and perspectives

In order to strengthen their international presence, universities are striving to increase their internationalisation. The world is said to have moved from being a global village to a ‘global sitting room’. There is therefore the need to operate beyond the immediate environment and this may be achieved through interaction with international practices which forms the main thrust of internationalisation. This study examined issues and perspectives around internationalisation of higher education in south-western Nigerian universities. The south-western part of the country has the highest number of universities among the six geo-political zones with a total of 54 universities (7 Federal, 11 States and 36 Private Universities). The research design was descriptive survey. The sample of the study comprised 58 respondents including eight Deans, 42 Heads of Departments (HODs), six Faculty Officers (FOs) and two Student Affairs Officers (SAOs) in the two institutions. Data for the study were analysed using percentage and mean. The result showed that aggregate mean of the forms of internationalisation available at Obafemi Awolowo is 14.8 while at Osun State University it was 7.5 while the aggregate mean of the indicators showing the level of internationalisation at Obafemi Awolowo is 16.9 while at Osun State University it was 8.3. Some challenges facing the internationalisation effort of the sampled institution were identified as paucity of funds which snowballs into other issues such as unavailability of research grants, lack of space to accommodate interested visiting scholars and research collaborators, infrastructural problem, limited office spaces, unstable academic calendar caused by incessant strikes, erosion of academic culture from the universities, epileptic power supply among others. The study recommended among others that since funding is a major agenda for restructuring, there is the need for the provision of adequate funding for universities to be able to pursue and implement its internationalisation agenda.