Faculty strategies for sustainable human capital and achieving high university rank

2.1. Theories

The desire to produce relevant and sustainable human capital remained the major goal of higher institutions. There is therefore, the need to focus also on quality and employability of graduates for sustainable human capital development than only on accreditation and University ranking. According to [7] The professional development and academic stature of an institution’s faculty members are connected to its educational vivacity. It has been observed that Ph.Ds. employed in faculty teach only or work as adjunct instructors with less research output and monitoring capacity to implement the output for development [3]. However, graduates should be equipped not only with research skill but its implementation through University-Industry linkage. Therefore, individual training should be part of the curriculum in which both students and lecturers must participate to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Organizational policies and procedures that support and encourage teaching and lifelong learning should include student evaluations of workshops, intensive fellowships and consultations, professional development, peer coaching, and mentorship.

[8] Propose expanding the body of knowledge regarding blended learning (BL), removing perceptions towards BL, and encouraging the challenges that faculty, students, and educational leaders face when adopting BL and solving problems regarding the faculty's lack of knowledge in using technologies to impact knowledge. Minter (2008) posits the use of active learning methods and techniques as we tend to learn best by being involved, prompt feedback so that faculty can learn much from students by using classroom management techniques where students indicate what they have learned, what has been confusing, and what is yet to be learned.

[9] Recommends various instructional qualities to enhance the capacity of academic staff; focus on institutional missions within coordinated systems of higher education; and balancing resource allocation to suggest those goals; developing university-based research efforts consistent with individual institutional missions; improving faculty incentive and evaluation systems; and strengthening the quality of private higher institutions. [10] Propose the use of experimental learning, timely and effective feedback, peer and colleague relationships, diverse educational strategies, and well-organized interventions in models for principles of teaching, learning, and understanding.

Steenert and Mann (2006) highlight institutional improvement, organizational development, professional academic skills, and teaching of specific content areas as common practice but give educational opportunities for professional development to include longitudinal programs-concentration of activities to increase skills in a particular faculty role for a given month or years, peer coaching, mentorship, and learning on the job.

[11] Suggests control of quality through hiring panels, hiring the best, knowing the talent list and congratulating people, payment of a top salary, incentivize raising research money, training scholars in management when they are young and hiring of scholars as leaders [12], [13] proposes hiring the best faculties, diversifying staff, focusing on research, improving engagement levels, increasing incentives and monitoring performances, increasing motivation, taking feedback from students, forwarded thinking, developing branches and offering more career options.

[14] Considers microenvironment, national leadership, government and regulatory framework, quality assurance system, resources and financial incentives, location, and digital and telecommunication infrastructure in his higher education ecosystem. [15] Aligned key functions to make a world-class university, namely Students, teaching staff quality, internationalization, research output, graduates, and technology transfer.

2.2. Practices

[16] Researching on World class Universities in Egypt analyzes some indices used namely, high concentration of talent academics and students, scientific referencing and citation, multilingualism, international students, strategic vision, abundant resources to offer a rich learning environment and support advance research, innovation and creativity, high level of research activities, educational quality, affordable and considerable income, administrative structure, and supportive rules, international responsive and innovative curriculum, information technology and cooperation with foreign institutes, industry and the community. ARWU ranking as observes by Shanghai Jioo Tong University, (2021) includes six indicators in four dimensions: Quality of education comprises of Alumni and faculty with Nobel prize and Field medals (30%); quality of faculty focused on highly cited faculty members and the papers published in Nature and Science (40%); research output consisting of papers indexed in science citation index-expanded and social science index accounts for (20%); and per capital performance under the performance of an institution (10%).

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University ranking (2022) [17] employs 13 indicators in five dimensions. Teaching dimension accounts for a weight of 20% and is determined by teaching reputation survey, staff-to-student ratio, doctorate to bachelor ratio, doctorate awards by an institution and institutional income scaled against academic staff members. The research dimensions are bagged 30% and comprised of research reputation survey, research grants and the number of papers published in academic journals. Weight of 30% is assigned to the third dimension which is citation impact. More so, the fourth dimension which is on international outlook is allocated a weightage of 7.5% and is determined by international-to-domestic student ratio and the number of international co-authored researched publications. Lastly, the industry income accounts for 2.5 % weightage.

QS World University ranking framework uses academic peer reputation survey with a weightage of a whopping 40%, employees’ reputation survey (10%), citation par faculty and faculty student’s ratio account for 20% each, and the numbers of international students and faculty indicators are assigned a weight of 5% each. Webnometrics.info (2020) bases ranking on four indicators. Namely Google institutional domain 5%, visibility which is including the number of external networks linked to institutional web page (50%), Transparency/openness which covers top cited researchers (10%), and ‘Excellence’ denotes as top cited papers and their ranking Scimago (35%).

As graduates of universities do not have guarantee of full employment, they should get relevant knowledge and skill in demand by industries and for self-employment. Therefore, the ranking criteria in the future should consider Universities’ effort in working towards the UNs seventeen SDGs.

A salient criterion of interest to low-income countries such as affordability is completely ignored, others are emotional support, absence of racism and discrimination & social responsibilities, solving problems of the immediate community. The traditional University ranking bodies promote homogenization of higher education institution (Zha, 2009), making them less responsive and less relevant to their immediate context due to application of limited set of criteria. Hence rankings always favor the advantage enjoyed by the already ranked institutions and therefore leads to inequality. Against this background, we need to consider additional criteria especially, used by the emerging economics.

NIRF (2021) uses teaching, learning and resources (TLR) research and professional practice (RP), graduation outcomes (GO), outreach and inclusivity (OI) and peer perception (PP). In its OI it considers regional diversity (RD), percentage of women (WD), economically and socially challenged students (ESCS) and facilities for physically challenged students (PCS).

Nigeria’s National University Commission, NUC (2021) [6] in its National University System ranking uses percentage of female students, efficiency, percentage of full professors, percentage of international students, percentage of international staff, programs with full accreditation, per capital total citation, per capital h-indexed, per capital h-10 index, Google scholarship presence, Student staff ratio and combination of knowledge Economy.

US news (2021) [18] www.usnews.com employs indicators and weight to measure global research performance in Latin America Universities namely, Global research reputation (12.5%), publications (10%), books (2.5%), conference (2.5%), normalized citation impact (10%), Total citations (7.5), number of publications that are among the 10% most cited (10%), international collaboration relations to country (5%) international collaboration (5%) number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective fields (5%), and percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers (5%).

2.3. Theoretical Framework

Human capital theory linked to [19] reveals that individual labour has a set of abilities which can be improved through education and training. This concept qualifies labour as capital. Education is an important aspect of workforce as it promotes productivity of workers. University established as citadels of learning should produce not only not only human capital but a sustainable one relevant for the dynamic nature of our societies. Education acquired should be capable of solving current societal problems and the ones in the foreseeable future. On this ground, graduates should be made to acquire a sustainable human capital in addressing the basic problems of our communities and achieving.

3.1. Faculty Strategies

The key issues of attention for faculty members’ development are management structure and staffing; teaching and learning assessment; strategic mission and vision; facilities and environmental quality. Others are quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation, staff training and development, and student admission. A faculty member is incapacitated because physical facilities, admission quality, environmental quality, and so on are weak. These key strategies are reported in Figure 1.

We discussed the seven strategies highlighted in Figure 1 as follows:

• Strategic Vision/Mission: Faculty members should have knowledge of the faculty strategic vision and mission to achieve the vision. That vision should be in line with the University wide vision and should be tailored to achieving academic excellence, achievement of SDGs, positioning the University to assist and serve the immediate community and be a university to be reckoned with in terms of ranking, accreditation, innovative courses and employability of graduates.
• Management Structure and Staffing: Basic offices in the faculty structure should have Dean, Sub - Deans, Head of Department, Quality Assurance committee, Seminar, Workshop and Conference committee, examination committee and the supporting staff rich in information and communication technology, gender equity [21] and international consideration should be considered in staffing as is the global best practice. There must be an acceptable staff-student ratio. Students’ admission should grow only with the expansion of academic staff. Only visible scholars with doctorate degree with background in research and ICT should be employed as Faculty members. Incentives to staff in terms of salaries allowances, leave grants, and retirements benefits should be at least the global average.
• Facilities and Environmental Quality: No facilities for learning and environmental safety means no learning. Provision must be made of information and telecommunication equipped classes and lecture theaters adequate for the proposed members of staff and students, gender sensitive restrooms, consideration of facilities for people with disability, faculty students support facilities, spacious adequately equipped and en suite office facilitation for staff, provision for environmental sanitation and safety against fire and reptiles, spacious walk ways, parking space for staff, visitors and students, and emergency exit doors for classes, lecture theaters and office complex and first aids office adequately equipped and staffed. Emphasis must be made on practical facilities and productive equipment for all the courses Faculty Library should be rich in terms of physical and electronic books, and journals. There should be adequate subscription to data bases and internet services adequately provided to gain access to library services. Faculty members should be made to lead by example in publishing in recognized and online journals and books to be available in the library. Students’ projects, thesis and dissertation should be to standard with value addition to knowledge and applicability in production of goods and services thereby achieving specific SDGs, and uploaded for easy access in the library and worldwide.
• Students Admission: Students should satisfy the minimum University entry qualification. Consideration should be given to regional balance, international students, gender equity, accommodations of people with disabilities, balance between doctorate and bachelor students ratio. Quality students make quality graduates [22] and this applicable to both doctorate and bachelor students.
• Teaching Learning and Assessment: Curriculum designed should have innovative and outcomebased courses focusing on practical production, student industrial attachment and University- Industry link, Community needs through assessment, and in line with UNs SDGs and community needs. Philosophy and objectives should be clearly stated and adequate provision made for continuous assessment, grading and external examination system. There should be provision for blended learning, active learning, student’s motivation in teaching (Magaji and Adelabu, 2012), and industrial training/attachment.
• Staff Training and Development: Industry link; Academic Staff must be in touch with the industry the University entrepreneurship center, farms, Information technology center and workshops, and be able to identify and solve societal problems relating to their area of specializations. Staff must be regularly updated with presentation and management skills. They should have self-reflection strategy in terms of teaching, peer mentoring and seminars. Faculty should have research clubs and be engaged in regular team work, teaching and research with members and the international colleagues. Comentoring provides thinking partnership in supporting and extending each other’s talent [23]. There should be a reciprocal mentorship culture for faculty members to mutually learn and benefit from one another by sharing expertise and experience with colleagues. Collaborative-learning leads to discovery and guides members in progression towards promotion, quality publications, collaboration and research grant attraction [24]. Research collaboration should be measured in terms of joint research with international authors, multidisciplinary research and researchers on burning Global issues, SDGs, and the need of the immediate committees. Faculties should have regular training and workshops on research grant attractions. Knowledge of international research grant bodies and the nitty-gritty of research proposal writing should be taken seriously.

Funding attraction skills is necessary for members. Government is the backbone of Education funding especially in developing economies [25]. However, mechanisms should be on ground to train members on how to attract funds in terms of research grands, educational facility assistance by donor agencies, training and consultancy services to the communities and industries.

Furthermore, there should be regular capacity building trainings, searching and evaluating evidence, leadership and scholarship skill, acquiring general and content- specific tutor knowledge and skills, developing advance skills in problem-based learning, e-learning, community engaged scholarship collaboration and interdisciplinary network and skills for handling blended learning.

Faculty members should be trained to know about the key assessment indices used for University ranking, University accreditation, journals ranking, and impact factor, citation of publications and visibility of publications, and the type of knowledge and skill the industries expected from the graduates.

• Quality Assurance: There should be a periodic Monitoring and evaluation of faculty members on grants attracted, assessment of the quality of teaching, examination and mastery over e-teaching, measurement of periodic level of leadership skill of members, annual assessment of staff research output and quality, level of training workshop and conferences attended per annum, number and quality assessment of Post Graduate and Undergraduate supervision, determination of visibility of members publications and collaborative researches at national and international levels, and target for outstanding innovation, fellowship prizes, awards and honor to members.

Faculty members ranking mechanism should be in place based on staff teaching quality, supervision output and quality, leadership skill, publication output and quality, citation, mentoring, funding, innovation, awards, prizes and grants attracted. Research quality should be measured in terms of how it addresses the achievement of SDGs and community needs Quality assurance should also establish mechanisms for tracking where the graduates of the faculty are employed, the evaluation of their performance, and also monitor the percentage of graduates employed every year. Creation of Alumni office is important in harnessing information on graduate’s performance, success, career progression and awards received [1].