Baale tasks varsities on performance management system

A former member of the Governing Board of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Mr. Leke Baale, has stressed the need for universities in the country to implement good performance management system that uses incentives or solid reward system to encourage staff to embrace change and flexibility in the way things are done.

Mr. Baale, who made the call last Tuesday (May 30, 2017) while delivering the Second Annual Registry  Lecture of the University of Ilorin, said this is necessary in order for Nigerian universities to be able to compete favourably with top universities in the world.

In the lecture, entitled “The Effects of Economic Recession, Reverberations and Sustainable Recovery in Nigerian Universities”, the Guest Lecturer explained that Nigerian universities are lagging behind when compared to their counterparts in the advanced countries. He stressed the need for Universities to focus on meeting the needs of the staff members as an incentive to make them drive the change that is required for the universities to compete globally.

Mr. Baale, who is the Facilitator and Mentor for the Fate Foundation, said that while lecturers must continue to use the Face-To-Face class model of teaching, there is also the need for the introduction of e-learning as support of reinforcement of class teachings.

He said, “As costs continue to rise, and tuition increases are capped, along with state funding cuts, a bottleneck will likely occur”, stressing that “e-learning can serve as a solution because it can increase the number of students being served, and it has lower administrative costs and provides an additional revenue stream”.

The Guest Lecturer advised universities to “arrange for incubator approach training of instructors to develop and teach highly effective online courses”, saying, “during the programme, instructors can learn techniques to design and enhance the e-learning experience and have the opportunity to apply the information gleaned from the training to create their own online course.”

Mr. Baale stressed that the emphasis in the universities should be on learning and not teaching as he suggested the establishment of a teaching innovation award to reward experimentation and new methods in teaching. He said that the award would be most impactful if it targeted individuals who initially expressed resistance to new model of learning, but who eventually achieved success and became enthusiastic about it.

The Guest Lecturer stated that universities must partner with the Private Sector not just for donation of resources to support their projects but to provide opportunities for practical mentoring of students.

Pointing out that the once identifiable boundary of the marketplaces and industries has become permeable, Mr. Baale said, “Now they shift continuously, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but always feeling slightly beyond our grasp. In this environment, leaders must realize that a sustainable future is only possible if organizations can collaborate with Universities to sense, adapt, and respond to change; if they can help their organizations evolve with an evolving world”.

According to the trained Pharmacist, the Nigerian Universities must embrace strategies that will facilitate innovation if they want to provide quality education and remain in leadership positions in the field of higher education.

Mr. Baale advocated the adoption of the Experiential Action Learning Model to encourage a cycle of learning, taking action and learning from both failures and successes, explaining that it would produce a new set of graduates with not just knowledge, but also with skills and the right attitude to meet today's marketplace challenges.

In his opening address, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin and Chief Host of the Registry Lecture Series, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali (OON), expressed delight that the country is inching her way out of recession.

Prof. Ambali noted that the quest for a sustainable recovery in the nation's economy made the topic of the second Registry Lecture Series apt and timely, adding that the Registry, which is a core organ of the University, must understand its role in sustainable economic recovery.

The Vice-Chancellor congratulated the Registrar, Mr. Emmanuel Obafemi, on the successful hosting of the second edition of the lecture and for the innovation he had brought to bear on the system, noting that the lecture series has given the University a quantum leap in development.

Prof. Ambali also thanked the Chairman of the Lecture, Dr. Mike Omotosho, for honouring the invitation to be a part of the success of the University, while appreciating the presence of two distinguished women role model in Nigeria, Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed, the wife of the Kwara State Governor represented by Dr. Mrs. Adimula; as well as the Yeyeluwa of Ife Kingdom, Olori Zaynab Wuraola Otiti Ogunwusi.