OPTIMISING FUNDING ARCHITECTURE: OVERCOMING CHALLENGES AND IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES FOR ADVANCING TERTIARY EDUCATION FUNDING IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Quality tertiary education is a requirement for sustainable national development, and this is receiving attention on a global scale. In Nigeria, however, public tertiary education sector is faced with severe challenges due to insufficient funding, which has affected the quality of education. Drawing on funding architecture perspective that is anchor on Public Good Theory and Fiscal Policy and Efficiency Theory, funding architecture is put forward as a framework for analyzing the general mechanism for sourcing and strategies for tertiary education financing. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the challenges of funding and practical strategies for funding tertiary education in Nigeria to addresses the current challenges and promote sustainability. Mixed methods research design was adopted for the study. A total of 339 respondents were selected using multistage sampling while 12 participants (administrators, parents, teachers and students) were selected for the Key Informant Interview using purposive and snowball techniques. Data were analysed thematically, with the aid of Atlas.ti qualitative analysis software. It highlighted the funding challenges and noted that Nigerian tertiary institutions have been largely underfunded. The study recommends for policy public-private partnership, proper 
review and benchmarking, good governance and accountability to enable sustainable funding of tertiary education in Nigeria.