Abstract:

Education is universally accepted as a means for a country’s economic, social and political development. In Nigeria, education is seen as an instrument par excellence for national development. This means that education is the key for the nation’s economic transformation and the means for the country to meet up with global competitiveness. The success of higher education depends greatly on the effective and efficient management of resources by institutional administrators. Thus, effective management of resources is very important in the achievement of quality education. In the context of this paper resources mean the totality of everything that higher institutions need to achieve their goals and objectives. Educational resources are those things that can be used to achieve educational objectives. They can be tangible and intangible resources. They can be categorized into finance, physical/material, human, information, knowledge, time and technological resources needed for effective operation of higher education. They are educational inputs that enhance both academic and administrative work in higher institutions. Resource management therefore, means the systematic coordination and integration of available resources for the achievement of the set goals of higher education. It involves a number of related activities such as planning, leading, coordinating, controlling, supervising or monitoring and directing in order to achieve efficient use of available resources for maximum output. Resource management involves resource mobilization and development. The purpose of resource management in higher education is to produce quality graduates who can contribute meaningfully to the development of the nation. Institutional administrators are therefore, expected to have the requisite skills, knowledge and competence to intelligently and effectively coordinate and manage the various resources at their disposal for quality output. Hence, higher institutions need competent and effective educational leaders. Some of the skills needed for effective management of resources by institutional administrators include technical, conceptual, human, decision making and communication skills. Resource management in higher education is not just a responsibility for institutional heads alone, it involves team work. The administrator needs to understand this and enlist the cooperation of both staff and students. However, resource management in higher institutions in Nigeria is not without problems. These problems include among others incessant strikes, political crises, education wastage, poor maintenance culture, misappropriation of funds, ineffective leadership, resistance to change, cultism, lack of requisite skills and poor human relations. This paper therefore, focuses on resource management in higher education. The concepts of educational resources and resource management would be treated. The importance of resource management, skills required for resource management, types of resources and problems of resource management in higher education would be discussed. Premised on the problems of resource management, the paper would recommend some strategies for improvement of resource management in higher education in Nigeria.

Keywords:

Resources, Management, Problems, Higher education, Nigeria.