Towards Producing Black Nobel Laureates Affiliated with "African Universities"

ORAL

Abstract

While Africa has produced a handful Nobel laureate in literature and peace, it has continued to shy away from producing any in the other categories. The reason is not farfetched; our university system is not up to standard. It is saddening that in this century, African countries place emphasis on certificates and not on knowledge. This has made the continent produce students that lack the intellectual capability, experimental ability, fundamental training, creativity, and motivation to excel except they get a foreign training. It is this backdrop that precipitated the research into the methods of teaching and research in universities across Africa. The study is designed to identify the problems and proffer solution to them. Two important questions immediately come to mind. (1) What factors account for the difficulty in producing Nobel laureates affiliated with African universities? (2) What strategies could be adopted to improve teaching and research in African universities? Several factors were investigated which revolve around funding, the competence of the lecturers, quality of students admitted, attitude of the students, parents and government. Nigerian universities were investigated and important deductions were made. During the study an inquiry was made on the method of instruction at various universities, from result obtained, the study therefore concluded that adequate funding, the presence of erudite scholars and brilliant minds will produce future Nobel laureate affiliated with the continent. The study therefore recommended admission and employment of only students and lecturers who have got a thing for academics into the universities and adequate funding of universities and research centres.

Authors

  • Jude Kenneth

    African Univ