To review existing policies and programmes in line with current needs in Nigerian tertiary institutions, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), recently organised a programme for heads of public tertiary institutions, particularly TETFund beneficiary ones.

   Tagged, Emerging Areas of Students Needs in Beneficiary Institutions, the forum according to the organisers, served as a veritable platform for interaction between TETFund and heads of beneficiary institutions. The aim was to critically examine the collective mandates of TETFund and schools in improving teaching and learning across the tertiary education sub-sector.

   In fact, the workshop was considered crucial in sharing concerns and enlightening participants on the need for improvement in certain areas of their respective mandates and assignments towards delivering quality tertiary education in the country.

  The Executive Secretary, TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, in his speech, said the workshop was conceived mainly for the purpose of brainstorming over some identified areas of interventions that were seen to be highly beneficial, not only to tertiary institutions but also to students, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of all the interventions in the tertiary institutions.   

   Echono believes that funding educational activities is not all about bringing out money but also requires careful consideration of different needs and expectations.

   He said: “Funding must also be directed at essential programmes, which align with the strategic objectives in terms of outcomes of investment in either physical or content development that the funding usually supports. Provision of physical facilities must be accompanied by corresponding programmes that will ensure maximum impact and benefit to the target group.

   “As such, the Fund is constantly and critically reviewing its operations and interventions with a view to ensuring that the interventions meet the actual goals that are intended at conception. New programmes and intervention lines are sometimes introduced, and some innovation or alterations are carried out regarding some existing ones, and where necessary, non-performing ones are dropped.”

   He used the occasion to elaborate on the introduction of Career Services Centre in the year 2024 disbursement cycle. He said the Centre was introduced to complement other programmes in tertiary institutions, and that TETFund considered the establishment of the Centres necessary for the development of students’ careers and their employability, which was the major reason for the establishment of tertiary educational institutions.

   He added: “Career Services Centres have helped students in advanced nations to make informed decisions regarding their career paths. The centres provide information for students on trends in the job market, opportunities and requisite skills as well as linkages with the employment industries including the alumni of the institutions. 

  “They provide students with tools for self-assessment to identify their interests, strengths, weaknesses and prospects. The centres further provide counselling, guidance and support to all students.

   “They help organise and facilitate education programmes, workshops, seminars and other similar programmes to equip students with relevant employability skills to assist them search for jobs.

   “They provide transition resources by supporting resume building, application processes and interview preparation. It is in consideration of the significant role that career centres play in the career development of students of tertiary education that the Fund took the decision to incorporate it in the 2024 disbursement guidelines.”

  Consequently, an academic and practitioner in Guidance and Counselling was invited to present a paper on the theme, ‘Incorporating Holistic Approaches to
Career Counselling that Considers Students Personal, Academic and Professional Development Needs.’

   The paper did not only throw light on the subject matter but equally emphasised the significance of the Centres and the services they were to provide for the benefit of the beneficiary institutions.

   The workshop also provided an opportunity for the Strategic Planning Department to also educate participants on the TETFund Guidelines for accessing the Career Services Centre intervention so that it hastens the processing time for accessing the intervention funds.

   “As a new intervention line, suggestions on reasonable and necessary adjustments in the guidelines are welcome. Another area that has occupied our thoughts and concerns is the repositioning of the teaching profession and the teaching practice intervention that the Fund had consistently made available to supervisors and the sustainability of the intervention.

   “Teaching practice provides experiences to supervisors and student teachers in-real time in the teaching environment and provides an opportunity for supervisors and student-teachers to practice the art of teaching before they become real teachers. This helps to perfect their ability and potential in teaching. It enables supervisors and student-teachers to discover their weaknesses and strengths in the classroom and provides the opportunity to hone and improve their abilities. Teaching practice enables supervisors and student-teachers to develop a positive attitude towards the teaching profession among several other important reasons.

   “This is why the teaching practice intervention has remained a relevant intervention area of the Fund,” Echono said. The workshop, which encouraged mutual interaction and feedback that would stimulate debate on emerging needs of students in the modern world of study, was not the first under the Echono-led TeTFund. He believes that the challenging global environment and the need to implement initiatives that would strengthen and reposition Nigerian beneficiary institutions for global competitiveness have made it imperative.

   He, therefore, urged his guests to take the forum seriously and make meaningful contributions so that at the end, the participants and the Fund would be better informed on the importance and ways to provide the needed learning environment for students in a dynamic global context.