Answering the Global Questions on Funding in Education: Implication for Alternative Funding of Business Education in Nigeria

Abstract

Funding in education has continued to raise global concerns. This is largely because of the indispensible place of education in societal development. Education, being capital-intensive, requires funding. This is because as the world keeps evolving so does education evolve to meet with the current challenges, expectations and needs of the world, and thus this evolution in education calls for more funding. This has generated global concerns to the point that the questions of who should fund education and how should the fund be generated have continued to occupy global discussions on education. In the case of Nigeria, the government is the major sponsor of education and the fund is generated from public revenue. However, the fund has never being adequate, and this affects the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of education in Nigeria. Thus, it has become obvious that alternative funding of education in Nigeria is the way forward. It is therefore in solving the problem of poor funding of education in Nigeria, with major emphasis on Business Education as a programme of study in the Nigerian tertiary education, that this theoretical study was carried out. The study was aimed at unraveling alternative ways of funding Business Education in Nigeria. The study, having concluded that there is a need for alternative funding of Business Education in Nigeria, recommended that schools/departments/faculties of Business Education in Nigeria should amongst others, organise exhibitions, seminars and workshops; organise short professional courses for career advancement; establish business centres, cyber cafes, e-libraries, tuck shops, stationery shops, as well as explore business opportunities within and around them, as a way of augmenting the poor funding of education by the government and also promoting experiential learning in their students.