By Prof. B. Chima Onuoha
There are two common terms of administrative nuances or governance in most third world nations, including Nigeria. They are hyping and sloganeering, of anything – concept programme or project the initiating administration or leadership introduced. There are many examples of such in Nigeria cutting across many segments of the public sector including the university system.
In the public sector of Nigeria, most programmes and projects are started without thorough analysis of the various stages including effective implementation to fruition. A very serious concept or perspective in the public university system is an entrepreneurial university, which has not been actualised in concrete terms.
What then is an entrepreneurial university? There are many ways of describing an entrepreneurial university. I will attempt some:
1. Is an institution that emphasises innovation, business creation and practical skills through partnership with industry, government and society.
2. Its main focus is wealth creation by exploiting opportunities and pursuing innovations in practice and in the process improving economic performance of states, regions and the nation.
3. Ensuring that its students or graduates are wealth creators and employers of labour, not just job seekers.
4. Should have the sole aim of transforming higher educational institutions into active engines of economic development, balancing teaching and research with addressing societal challenges and problems.
5. Is an institution which puts innovation, start-ups and industry collaborations at the core of the ways it operates, teaches, researches and creates wealth for itself and the economy. In other words, the institution goes beyond teaching and research to the market place.
An ideal entrepreneurial university has some major perspectives – in its curriculum, the orientation and enterprising behaviours of students, graduates, lecturers, researchers and administrators, and the enabling environment. The starting point is offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and getting the students of other programmes to imbibe the entrepreneurship mindset. Another important perspective is integrating entrepreneurship into all programmes and degrees and in the process unlocking young talents. Students and graduates leave the institutions with entrepreneurship and wealth creating mindsets, not just certificates or degrees.
Let me start with the mounting of relevant courses and creating the environments in aid of entrepreneurship. The following courses are essential – venture creation, innovation management, case studies and analysis, strategic management, risk-taking and problem-solving skills, business and economic analysis, information technology, etc.
It is important that I mention that in other climes – advanced and newly industrialised nations, universities specialise and are reputed for certain disciplines, say medicine, engineering, business, politics, economics, ICT, etc. This is not clearly so in Nigeria. This is because the National Universities Commission (NUC) is more or less imposing the same standards or requirements on all universities, via its programme accreditation exercises. There is no room for the various natural, intellectual and professional capabilities of the different geo-political zones and tribes of the nation to be exhibited or deepened. And in the process, there are no serious academic and professional specialisation or competitions among the nation’s universities.
The enabling environments include: start-up labs, on-campus incubators, mentorship networks, internships, rewards for adventure and risk taking, etc.
The next stage is having a university governance system that have entrepreneurship disposition both in theory and practice. The various ways of achieving this include:
1. Appointing members of the governing council that have extensive networks and networth – who are in the position to attract enduring projects and favours to the system. Currently, the governing councils of virtually all public universities in Nigeria are dumping grounds for political patronage. Many are there to milk the already and grossly underfunded system, not really adding value.
2. Appointing Vice Chancellors with entrepreneurial minds, that also have extensive industry contacts and societal networks – who are in good position to enter into mutually beneficial partnerships with businesses for funding and other economic projects.
3. Most universities have viable revenue generating units, centres and institutes. Like the larger political environment, presently, appointments into these units are for favours or nepotism. University administrators should appoint those that can further grow these units to generate funds for the university.
4. Scholars with solid outside contacts or networks should be appointed or elected as HODs, Directors and Deans. That is, those who can attract professorial endowments, grants, business executives, quality post graduate students (like technocrats, diplomats, and foreign students) and other assets. It is shameful that virtually all the departments in most federal universities have no official cars or buses. Will achieving this common operational necessity amount to rocket sciences?
5. The university should have a deliberate push for commercialising research outputs – patents, spin-offs, big licensing deals with industry, franchise, etc.
6. An entrepreneurial university should pioneer major industrial and economic hubs or technology centres in the areas or states of operation. For example, the history of Silicon Valley (in California, USA) will be incomplete without the notable role of Stanford University, its industrial park (now Stanford Research Park), its affiliates and graduates. Silicon Valley is home to many of the world’s largest and richest high-tech corporations and thousands of start-up companies.
Some of them are Fortune 1000 companies. Globally, universities have critical roles to play in the establishment of technology centres. There is no hi-tech city, mechanised agriculture, industrial cluster, machine fabrication, or major development in any country without the direct or indirect inputs of universities in those areas or region. I can’t see any Nigerian university that is linked to any industrial or technology centre. The gown must go to town.
7. Universities should endeavour to have strong alumni relations and linkage units to harvest the goodwill of and donations from their alumni, both in Nigeria and in diaspora. Alumni associations and their members are the major sources of endowment in most foreign universities. This was my main mandate as the Director of Consultancy, Linkages and Revenue Mobilisation Unit (COLIREMU), at Abia State University, Uturu for three and a half years.
Check out the 15 biggest universities in USA in terms of endowment at fiscal year-end (2025), released in early 2026:
i. Harvard University – $55.67 billion
ii. Yale University – $44.15 billion
iii. Stanford University – $40.79 billion
iv. Princeton University – $36.42 billion
v. MIT – $27.37 billion
vi. University of Texas System – $27.17 billion
vii. University of Pennsylvania – $24.81 billion
viii. Texas A&M System – $22.23 billion
ix. University of Michigan – $21.20 billion
x. University of California – $20.15 billion
xi. University of Notre Dame – $20.09 billion
xii. Columbia University – $15.92 billion
xiii. Emory University – $12 billion
xiv. Cornell University – $11.75 billion
xv. Vanderbilt University – $10.86 billion
Source: National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) annual studies.
Can you imagine that Harvard’s endowment of $55.67 billion is bigger than Nigeria’s foreign reserve that stood at $48.6 billion as at April 16, 2026? Again, do we any Nigerian university with an endowment of just $20m?
The purpose of most endowment funds in higher education includes:
i. Initiating and developing stronger teaching skills/trainings.
ii. Hiring and maintaining outstanding professors and researchers.
iii. Investing in new skills or technologies.
iv. Helping to improve the visibility, reputation, respect and relevance of universities in the society.
For details on endowments, see my article: “Nigerian University System and Endowment”.
8. An entrepreneurial university should have a very strong consulting outfit manned by relevant and seasoned professionals. This outfit or company should be in a position to handle many of the university’s jobs (workshops, seminars, retreats for staff, strategic plans, feasibility studies, designing industrial hub or city, etc) which are routinely given to outside firms. This outfit should be able to solve the numerous corporate challenges in the corporate world and the economy at market or slightly lower than market rates, but earning good money for the university.
9. Many Nigerian universities have relevant courses or disciplines that can readily be used to address internal needs. For example, they have departments of architecture, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. Yet these departments, their students and lecturers don’t get involved in most construction jobs going on in our campuses. In addition to using these construction sites as training grounds (hands-on by students), they can earn reasonable incomes for themselves, the departments and university.
Unfortunately, virtually all these construction jobs are awarded to outsiders – politicians and firms less qualified than the students, lecturers and departments. All TETFUND projects are awarded from Abuja, yet many do not meet the project specifications. The tragedy of it all is that the benefitting universities, via their departments of works or physical planning approve these sub-standard projects, for obvious reasons or considerations.
10. Entrepreneurial universities, via their relevant units, centres, departments/faculties and business outfits, etc., should be able to produce and market most of the things they consume on their campuses. Examples include water, meat, fruits, food, other farm produce, etc.
11. An entrepreneurial university should not be too politically exposed. Refer to my article “Nigerian University System and Political Exposure” June 30, 2022. Infact, it should be politically neutral. In better climes, public lectures including convocation lectures are restricted to global leaders, notable wealth creators, activists, celebrities, Nobel laureates, luminaries selected for their inspirational impact.
Do we have that in Nigeria? In this country, everything is politicised to the detriment of the system and the overall development of the country. Let me use Harvard University as an example. Convocation ceremony is called Commencement Ceremony in Harvard – a ceremony in late May, where degrees are formally conferred – a tradition which dates to 1642 – over 380 years. Check out the notable recent speakers.
A. 2025: Abraham Verghese – Physician-author, Stanford professor, known for “The Convenant of Water”.
B. 2024: Maria Ressa – Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rappler CEO, journalist fighting disinformation.
C. 2023: Tom Hanks – Oscar-winning actor, philantropists, and cultural icon.
D. 2022: Barack Obama – Former U.S. President, Nobel laureate, community organizer.
E. 2019: Angela Merkel – Former German Chancellor, scientist-turned-stateswoman.
Past icons include J.K. Rowling (2008, on failure and imagination), Oprah Winfrey (2013, on resilience), and Steven Spielberg (2016, on empathy).
The most entrepreneurial universities in USA are: Stanford university, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, Babson College, University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, University of Houston, Brigham Young University, Northeastern University, Boston University, Texas Tech University, Penn State University, etc. Further records show the following positive achievements of some of these universities.
a. University of California Berkeley has the most undergraduate alumni that have gone on to become successful entrepreneurs.
b. Harvard university comes first in terms of the total number of billionaire alumni.
c. Many of the graduates or alumni of Stanford university are players in Silicon Valley and other cities in USA.
Notable entrepreneurial universities in the United Kingdom include: Imperial College London, Newcastle University, Lancaster University, University of Leeds, University of Nottingham, and University of Warwick. Reputable universities in Canada, also known for producing founders of enterprises and venture capitalists are: University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, McGill University, University of Alberta, Queens University and University of British Columbia.
It is also important to note that most renowned entrepreneurial universities are also known as global institutions. They have high academic standards, international reputation, visibility and employability. They are also wealth creators and agents of economic cum technological emancipation.
The few entrepreneurial universities in Africa include Makerere University Uganda; University of Pretoria South Africa; University of Nairobi; Mount Kenya University, Kenya; and Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
For me, there are only 5 institutions in Nigeria that can be said to be working very hard to be entrepreneurial universities. They are: Convenant University Ota, Pan-Atlantic University Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, University of Lagos and University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). The implication is that others have to work extremely hard, to increase their current efforts.
In conclusion, Nigerian universities should intensify efforts in producing: job creators, not job seekers; founders of companies and venture capitalists/business angels; to actively be involved in developing industrial hubs/technology centres; play critical roles in the technological and economic emancipation of Nigeria; and finally endeavour to be intellectually visible and respected continentally and globally.
Onuoha, Professor of Management and development activist, wrote from University of Port Harcourt, Sunday, April 26, 2026.
