Our attention has been drawn to some publications and comments, particularly on the internet, by some individuals on the recently published schedule of fees for 2013/2014 academic session by the University. These individuals, with intent to misinform and mislead the public, deliberately distorted the facts and circumstances surrounding these fees. On the contrary, some parents and well-meaning students of the University, after a careful examination of the issues involved, have requested that we send out this information on the true position of things so as not to allow some mischief-makers from attempting to discredit the unmatchable achievements in the provision of quality education which the University has made in the last 4 years. It is in response to these barrage of demands and in our unwavering commitment to our students, parents, staff and the good people of Nigeria that we have decided to use this medium to set the record straight.
The Vision
Afe Babalola University is established with a clear and uncompromising vision to lead education reform in Nigeria by example. The importance of this cannot be over-emphasised, considering the near comatose state tertiary education in Nigeria and the acute lack of basic infrastructure that can guarantee meaningful sustainable development. Putting Nigeria’s education in a befitting global landscape from this background is not only extremely resource intensive but intensively enervating, that even the government at all levels in the country have shied away from it. Notwithstanding this, the Founder of Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, set out to achieve this by establishing a model university that will change the panorama of tertiary education and compete favourably with top rated international universities in the world.
The Beginning:
Afe Babalola University unlike other universities, started in 2010 at its permanent site in Ado Ekiti with structures conservatively valued by the insurers and estate valuation professionals at 13 billion Naira, particularly for purpose of insurance. This does not include the value of laboratory equipments, ICT facilities, and other sundry infrastructure. At the end of 2012, the value of the structures was put at over 50 billion naira. The ongoing projects on campus which are expected to be completed by September 2013 is estimated at a construction cost of 6 billion Naira. Plans are already put in place for the 2014 construction projects which is billed to start around February next year. Notwithstanding all these huge investments by the Founder, the University is registered as not-for-profit institution, meaning that neither the Founder, members of his family, members of the Board of Trustees nor any other person holds shares in the institution. All funds accruable to the University are channelled exclusively to the promotion of its objectives.
This unprecedented investment in quality education and human capital development in Nigeria has yielded instant results through national and global recognitions, including the “Best Enterprise in Africa Award in 2012” by the European Business Assembly in Oxford. The University also grew in population, from initial 240 students in 2010 to nearly 4,000 students during the 2012/2013 session. Last February, the international ranking institution, Webometrics, ranked the University as the 16th best university in Nigeria and the 2nd best Private University in Nigeria. This July, the University has now been ranked as the 13th best in Nigeria.
The Reality of school Fees in ABUAD:
The above preliminary information would necessarily reveal that the accumulated fees from all the students in the University since inception is indeed a far cry from the annual capital investments in the Institution, without taking into consideration the recurrent expenditures and staff development. When the University started in 2010 the cost of maintaining a student per session was between 1 million and 1.8 million naira, depending of his programme and the type of accommodation. Notwithstanding this, the University charged an average fee of 500,000 naira per student.
With the subsequent increase in price of petrol and some other tariffs such as the electricity and import tariffs, by the government and current inflationary trend prices of goods and services have continued to skyrocket in Nigeria. The current cost of maintaining a student per session for the standard and quality of education which the University maintains and strives to improve upon is now between 1.9 million and 3.5 million naira, depending on the programme and the type of accommodation the student utilises. But the University charges less than one-sixth (1/6th) of this amount in some programmes, such as SMS, Sciences, Education & Humanities and Geology. For example, up-to date facilities for standard science and medical training seems to be way out of the reach of many institutions, governments and other supporting organisations in Nigeria, but ABUAD continues to strives to achieve international standards in all its programmes through relentless acquisition of these equipments and training of its staff their proper utilisation.
The University is not insensitive to the financial burden on parents, especially the poor and middle class parents who desire qualitative education for their children in this 21st Century globally competitive world. Apart from the general subsidisation of the actual cost of training each student as shown above, the University also established other programmes that further alleviate partially or totally these burdens on parents, in line with international best practices. These include: full and partial scholarships; monetary awards for students who distinguish themselves in sports, leadership, discipline and character; grants and entrepreneurship funds.
Cost of Quality Education
Every informed individual knows that tertiary education is a capital intensive venture. Quality education is expensive everywhere in the world. Recently the popular newspaper Sunday Times of August 11, 2013 reported that British students will pay a sum of £9,000 (approximately 2.25million Naira) as tuition fees, whilst the fees for international students is much higher. The alternative to this is the highly compromised standard of education we presently have in the country, operating under squalid conditions and churning out unemployable graduates. This is the crux of strike actions by university staff which has become a recurring decimal in Nigeria and some other parts of the world. Achieving quality education at reasonable cost is the responsibility of all, and as shown above, the University is doing its best to shoulder much of these responsibilities.
The Fees for 2013/2014 Academic Session … False Information
It is not correct that the University increased its fees by 49 percent as alleged by some of the commentators. During the last session, the University entered into agreement with facility developers, particularly in the area of hostel accommodation. The developer insisted on 150,000 Naira per bed space, on the ground that this was what it charged in other institutions. The founder has since been subsidising the accommodation fee by paying the additional 50,000 Naira per bed space. Other marginal increments in the fees to cover some of the costs of training the students were made immediately applicable to the 100 level students for the session. The fees for the 2013/2014 academic session as advertised when compared to that of last session will show the following:
- An increase in the accommodation fee for rooms with 4 beds spaces, from 100,000 Naira to 150,000 Naira which is the actual fee charged by the developers.
- An increase in the accommodation fee for rooms with 2 bed spaces from 160,000 Naira to 300,000 Naira, which also is the cost payable to the developers. This type of accommodation is optional.
- A marginal increase in respect of other fees payable by students in the MBBS, Engineering and Law respectively, (please see the table below).This is necessitated by the increased cost of training these students as they progress into higher levels of study. For example, the Council of Legal Education on the 5th of this month increased the minimum number of library holdings for each information resource law libraries from 4 to 6. This means a minimum of 50 percent recapitalisation of all law libraries.
- When accommodation fees (which applies uniformly to all students in all programmes) are subtracted from other programmes in College of Sciences, Health Sciences, Social and Management Sciences, Geology and Education it will show that the University, rather than increasing these fees from that introduced last year is in fact subsidising them.
From the above analysis, it is therefore not correct that the University has increased its fees by 49 percent.
Benefits of scholarships etc.
The University wishes to assure all parents and other stakeholders that it will relentlessly seek ways of providing globally competitive quality education at the most minimal costs possible. Parents should also encourage their wards to work harder so as to enable them take benefits of all scholarships and other facilities that provide alternative funding for their education. Increase in school fees is not peculiar to ABUAD as all universities who are striving for higher standards have also increased their fees.
Conclusion
The condemnable action of mischief-makers notwithstanding, this University will continue to provide unmatchable quality education, in spite of the fact that in other good private Universities, as well as quality secondary schools in Nigeria, school fees are much higher.
For the benefit of the pioneer students and their parents, Board of Trustees has decided that returning students shall pay the same school fees paid in the previous year, with minor changes as contained in the schedule below.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Board of Trustees cannot and will not continue to subsidize accommodation fees payable to developers. It is up to each student to live in a 4-bedroom or 2-bedroom. (See schedule of fees below)