TETFund, Academic Leaders Strategise For Improved Services

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has met with the heads of beneficiary institutions on career service centres, teaching practice, Beneficiary Identity Management Service (BIMS) and hostel development review policies and programs, and receive feedback on the implementation of our various interventions.

The one-day sensitisation workshop titled, “Emerging Areas of Students Needs in Beneficiary Institutions,” was organised by the Fund to interact with beneficiary institutions and critically examine its collective mandates of improving teaching and learning across the tertiary education sub-sector.

In his presentation at the workshop, the executive secretary of TETFund, Arch. Sonny Echono said the workshop became necessary to share concerns and enlighten each other on the need to improve in certain areas of its mandate and assignments and also think collectively on how to improve the Fund’s services based on the targets and high standards set by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration.

“This workshop is conceived mainly for the purpose of brainstorming over some identified areas of intervention that are seen to be highly beneficial not only to our Institutions, but to our students who are the ultimate beneficiaries of all the interventions in the tertiary institutions.

“Funding educational activities requires careful consideration of different needs and expectations. Funding must also be directed at essential programs which align with the strategic objectives in terms of outcomes of investment in either physical or content development that the funding usually supports.

“The provision of physical facilities must be accompanied by corresponding programs that will ensure maximum impact and benefit to the target group. As such, the Fund is constantly and critically reviewing its operations and interventions with a view to ensuring that the interventions meet the actual goals that are intended at conception.

“New programs and intervention lines are sometimes introduced, and some innovation or alterations are carried out regarding some existing ones, and where necessary non performing ones are dropped.

In the year 2024 disbursement cycle, the Career Services Center was introduced to complement other programs in tertiary institutions,” he said.

Adding, the executive secretary said the Fund considers the establishment of these centers necessary for the development of students careers and their employability, which is the raison d’etre for establishment of tertiary educational institutions.

According to him, career services centers have helped students in advanced nations to make informed decisions regarding their career paths.

The centers, he said provide information for students on trends in the job market, opportunities, and requisite skills as well as linkages with the employment industries including the alumni of the institutions.

That’s notwithstanding, he noted that the centers also provide students with tools for self-assessment to identify their interests, strengths, weaknesses and prospects. Career centers further provide counselling, guidance, and support to all students.

“They help organize and facilitate education programs, workshops, seminars, and other similar programs to equip students with relevant employability skills to assist them search for jobs.

“They provide transition resources by supporting resume building, application processes and interview preparation. It is in consideration of the significant role that career centers play in the career development of students of tertiary education that the Fund took the decision to incorporate it in the 2024 disbursement guidelines.”

Echono further stated that it is

the repositioning of the teaching profession and the teaching practice intervention that the Fund had consistently made available to supervisors and the sustainability of the intervention is another area of its concern.

He said teaching practice provides experiences to supervisors and student teachers in-real time in the teaching environment and provides an opportunity for supervisors and student-teachers to practice the art of teaching before they become real teachers.

“This helps to perfect their ability and potentials in pedagogy. It enables supervisors and student-teachers to discover their weaknesses and strengths in the classroom and provides the opportunity to hone and improve their abilities.

“Teaching practice enables supervisors and student-teachers to develop positive attitude towards the teaching profession among several other important reasons. This is why the teaching practice intervention has remained a relevant intervention area of the Fund.

According to him, the Fund recently received a communication from the Federal Ministry of Education regarding the Presidential directive to TETFund on the support of teaching practice and the recommendations of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission regarding the teaching practice allowance, which now includes Faculties of Education in our Universities.

“This has become an issue, that I believe requires our collective brainstorming in other to give effect to the Presidential directive.

“It may lead to the reworking of the teaching practice funding template currently in use. The methodology employed in the computation of the allowance by the Fund and that of the Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission appear to be different, hence the need for harmonization to achieve shared acceptance,” he said.

He also noted that the workshop

workshop seeks to address other equally important ICT programs and the hostel development drive using the Public Private Partnership model, saying that today’s world is driven by information and communications technology and any education system that is not ICT driven or compliant may not compete favorably in the global environment.

He urged participants to take the interaction seriously and make meaningful contributions, noting that at the end of the workshop, both participants and the Fund will be better informed on the importance and ways to provide the needed learning environment for our students in a dynamic global context.

An academic and practitioner in Guidance and Counselling, Dr. Felix Emoruwa also deliver a paper with the theme, “Incorporating Holistic Approaches to Career Counselling that considers Students Personal, Academic and Professional Development Needs,” amongst others.