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Science &

Technology: Nigerian Students’ Career

Choices

One of the metrics that makes a country better than another in Science and Technology is “How many students a nation educates in science and technology disciplines”The other three are: Published research papers – It is a good way

to get a bead on basic research Number of Patents - Patent give a clue as to

how well a country is exploiting its ideas for commercial gain

Gross domestic expenditure on research and development

This study takes a look at career choices of Nigerian students in the 2012 UTME application

A total of 1.5million applicants applied to tertiary institutions in UTME 2012.

UTME 2012 Application Count % STEM Courses 705,802 46.93% Others 798,087 53.07% Total UTME Applicants 1,503,889  

STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Clearly, more applicants prefer non-science courses in Humanity, Arts, Social Science, Law, Education and Administration.

Nigeria has a policy that gives preference to applicants in the Sciences & Technology over other careers.

The policy states: 60:40 – University & College of Education should

give 60% admission preference for those seeking careers in the Science & Technology and 40% to others

70:30 – Polytechnic should give 70% admission preference for those seeking careers in the Science & Technology and 40% to others

There are Nine faculties that applicant can seek admission into: Administration, Agriculture, Arts, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Sciences and Social Science

More applicants apply for courses in Administration (19%) and Social Sciences (21%) compare to others.

STEM Faculties:Faculty Total %Agriculture 28,726 4.07%Education 16,315 2.31%Engineering 198,252 28.09%Medicine 232,945 33.00%Sciences 211,956 30.03%Social Science 17,608 2.49%Grand Total 705,802

Faculty CoursesAgriculture 99Education 50Engineering 86Medicine 25Science 136Social Science 12Grand Total 408

STEM Courses:

Agriculture (99): Course with Highest Applicants Total %

Agric Economics And Extension 6,772 23.57%Agric - Business 4,997 17.40%Food Science And Technology 4,372 15.22%Agriculture 3,978 13.85%Nutrition 1,459 5.08%

Education (50): Course with Highest Applicants Total %

Education And Biology 4,102 25.14%Library And Information Science 2,152 13.19%Education And Mathematics 1,314 8.05%Health Education 1,118 6.85%Agricultural Science And Education 2,032 12.45%

Engineering (86): Course with Highest Applicants Total %

Electrical Engineering 40,891 20.63%Petroleum Engineering 19,745 9.96%Mechanical Engineering 34,276 17.29%Civil Engineering 33,477 16.89%Chemical Engineering 15,501 7.82%

Medicine (25): Course with Highest Applicants Total %Medicine And Surgery 116,474 50.00%Nursing Science 41,999 18.03%Pharmacy 32,814 14.09%Medical Laboratory Science 22,987 9.87%Radiography 3,002 1.29%

Science s (136): Course with Highest Applicants Total %Computer Science 70,150 33.10%Microbiology 48,120 22.70%Biochemistry 38,257 18.05%Biology 13,085 6.17%Chemistry 10,085 4.76%

Social Science (12): Course with Highest Applicants Total %

Geography 9,516 54.04%Library And Information Science 3,185 18.09%Statistics 3,659 20.78%

All STEM Courses

Med & Su

rgery

Computer Sci

Microbiology

Nursing

Electrica

l

Biochemist

ry

Mechanica

l

Civil Engineerin

g

Pharmacy

Medical La

b Sci

Petroleum

Chemical

Biology

Geology

Chemistry

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

Engineering – 5Medicine – 4Science – 6

According to the African Innovation Outlook 2012; Nigerian science is dominated by the three fields of Medicine, Agricultural and Biological Sciences, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Faculty Total %Agriculture 28,726 4.07%Education 16,315 2.31%Engineering 198,252 28.09%Medicine 232,945 33.00%Sciences 211,956 30.03%Social Science 17,608 2.49%Grand Total 705,802

This means, Nigerians in STEM have produced more research outputs in the Life Sciences where Biology is core subject compared to the Physical Sciences where Physics and Mathematics are core subjects.

Further investigation of Students’ performance in National examinations such as the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), the National Examination Council (NECO) and the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will assist to identify the root cause of this research outputs in physical sciences

StatiSense ® - Wale Micaiah ©

Freely share, freely use and freely acknowledge the source – © Wale Micaiah

Data source:- UTME 2012 Application- The African Innovation Outlook 2012

Analysis by: Wale Micaiahm: 08078001800w. www.statisense.infoe: walegate@yahoo.comb: walemicaiah.blog.com