A Professor of International Relations and Gender Studies in the Department of Political Science, Professor Aituaje Irene Pogoson has called for the re-engineering of Nigeria’s education system to enable it meet the demands of the present cutting edge high tech economy.
The re-engineering would also enable Nigeria to maintain a favourable position in the dynamics of global power and the emerging new international order.
Professor Pogoson made the call while delivering
the 545th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ibadan on behalf of the Faculty of the Social Sciences.
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The lecture was entitled “The World in Transition: Understanding Power in the International Political Systems”
Professor Pogoson said Nigeria must be in the growing number of nations attempting to create globally competitive educational systems.
She noted that the imperative of the role of education as an instrument of soft power in the sphere of politics and geopolitics continues to increase as global changes emerge.
She said Nigeria’s place in the world is intricately linked to the vitality of its education sector and the fair treatment of its educators.
Professor Pogoson submitted that only states with developed education systems can compete effectively in the “global competition for minds” and attract the most talented foreign students.
She said one of the most crucial tools of the state’s soft power is the provision of international educational opportunities for students, home and abroad.
Such students, according to the inaugural lecturer, gain significant social capital after studying abroad, and when they return home with their newfound knowledge, the graduates become highly qualified personnel and positive impacts in their countries.
