Funding Research: A Trend analysis of Four Federal Universities in South-South Nigeria (2008 – 2013)

Abstract

The role of research in the expansion of frontier of knowledge has been acknowledged by scholars. However, the extent to which the government and the educational institutions support such acknowledgement through funding of research has not been assessed. The study selected four federal Universities from the south-south Nigeria, viz: University of Benin, Calabar, Port Harcourt, and Uyo to provide a trend analysis of their expenses on research using a scope of five years (2008/2009 – 2012/2013) academic sessions. The study adopted historical and descriptive design, and relied on secondary data (existing financial records of capital and recurrent expenditure) for analysis. The finding revealed disparities in funding between the universities. Although the component of research in the education cost revealed remarkable improvement during the years, the University of Calabar was slightly more likely than other universities in the South-South geo-political zone to spend on research. The study recommended among other things, a serious commitment towards the funding of educational research.