An activity-based model for estimating manpower cost of university education

Abstract

Higher education is regarded as a public good, recognized as forming vital social functions and disseminating knowledge. Of recent, the shortage of funds, the introduction of neo-liberal policies and globalization have contributed to rapid growth and a shift in emphasis to privatization of education. This appears a global trend. The cut in funding University coupled with increasing quest for university education have continued to stretch the dexterity of University administrators on quality. The university system has in recent years not been able to admit as it would have. In this work, an activity-based model was developed and used to estimate the manpower cost per student in a department offering engineering courses in a Nigerian University. This model was applied in 2003 and 2007. In 2003, 300 level courses had the highest cost. It was found that 200 and 300 levels attracted about 64% of the total cost. However, in 2007, 100 level courses recorded the highest costs, raising questions about the cost of borrowing courses from the servicing Faculty of Science, which provides about 80% of the borrowed courses. This work developed an activity based model for evaluating university manpower requirements and presented graduated stepped format for bridging gaps.