AN ASSESSMENT OF MUSEUM AND ITS IMPACT ON ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Edward stating in 2007 was of the view that museum is an establishment that caters for artifacts and other scientific materials, artistic, cultural, of historical relevance and makes them available to the populace via permanent or temporary exhibitions. The majority of big museums are situated in major cities throughout the globe, whereas smaller museums may be found in smaller cities, villages, and even rural areas. Museums serve a variety of purposes, from scholars and experts to the general public. The continued acceleration of information digitization, combined with the increasing capacity of digital information storage, is forcing museums to expand from static "collections of collections" of three-dimensional specimens and artifacts to virtual exhibits and high-resolution images of their collections for perusal, study, and exploration from any location with Internet access. Findlen (2009) is a good example of this. Museum education is a specialist area dedicated to enhancing and improving museums' public-facing roles. The goal of museum education is to improve visitors' understanding and appreciation of museum collections. However, through displaying actual artifacts that illustrate our past as a people, the museum has given its quota to the growth of higher institutions in Nigeria.

After secondary school, tertiary education is provided at colleges of education, polytechnics, monotechnics, universities, and other institutions that provide correspondence courses (FRN, 2004). The creation of appropriate high-level personnel, the growth of people' intellectual capacity, and the learning of physical and intellectual skills are all objectives of tertiary education, according to the text. Others aim to promote and encourage community service and scholarship. These objectives are pursued by tertiary educational institutions via teaching, research, knowledge creation, and dissemination, which they do through a range of programs such as certificate, diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate courses. University education, in particular, helps to the creation of high-level personnel in a variety of professional fields, as required by national development needs. University education also aims to create a sense of community among students via projects and action research. Due to a variety of reasons such as inadequate infrastructure, low financing, bad personnel, poor record keeping, and socio-political interferences, the practice of higher education in Nigeria has so far failed to meet the expectations of the aforementioned aims and objectives. As a consequence of these issues, low-quality outputs, a lack of international competitiveness, and output comparability have emerged. This pitiful and unacceptably bad situation has prompted an inquiry into how the Nigerian university education system might be reformed to satisfy stakeholders' expectations. According to Oni (1997), the foundation of higher education in Nigeria may be traced back to the founding of Yaba Higher College, YHC (now Yaba College of Technology) in 1932. YHC was severely chastised for exposing its applicants to subpar curriculum designed to create European expatriate subordinate officers. Going to a museum, for example, may bring what is taught in school to life by allowing visitors to view objects or artworks. When youngsters are studying about the Romans, for example, they are more likely to find an exhibition consisting of armour and weaponry from that time period fascinating and want to learn more about it. According to research, individuals who have direct experience with such knowledge are more likely to remember it later in life. Museums, especially organizations such as art galleries or photography exhibits, may therefore be a very important source of creativity, since many individuals are inspired and desire to attempt such activities for themselves (Tezcan and Akmehmet, 2007). Museums may help with education by partnering with schools. The easiest way to accomplish this is to encourage museums and schools to collaborate. Some museums have established educational sections that work with schools and instructors. In this context, a review of the Museum and its Impact on Academic Development in Nigerian Universities will be conducted.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Museums are excellent place to increase what is studied in school, and their hold on the magnification of education in Nigerian colleges cannot be overstated. The primary reason for this is because they have a wide range of cultural artifacts. Things learned in school are mostly theoretical, and pupils are unable to perceive any connections between them and real-life situations. Museums contain artifacts that may be used to illustrate what is taught in social studies and science classes. Museums, on the other hand, have a history of facilitating learning via the use of works of art. Furthermore, there are some obstacles to the contribution of museums to the development of Nigerian higher institutions, including, but not limited to, the inability of some higher institutions in the country to have their own mini museum, inept art administration and, indirectly, government ephemeral interests, financial capacity or lack of funding for museums in the country. As a result, a study of the Museum and its Impact on Academic Development in Nigerian Universities is required.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The primary objective of the study is as follows

1.        To examine the importance of museum to the development of Nigerian university.

2.        To find out the challenges of museum in contributing to the development of Nigerian university.

3.        To examine the strategies the management of museum can use in developing Nigerian universities

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following hypothesis have been formulated for this study

1.        What are the importance of museum to the development of Nigerian University?

2.        What are the challenges of museum in contributing to the development of Nigerian University?

3.        What are the strategies the management of museum can use in developing Nigerian Universities?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will examine Museum and its Impact on Academic Development in Nigerian Universities.

This study will benefit the Nigerian government in the sense that it will enlighten them on the need to fund the national museums in the country.

This study is also significant to the university board, as it will make them see the importance of museum to the academic performance of student, hence they might include visitation to the museum in the academic curriculum.

This study will also be of benefit to the academic community as it will contribute to the existing literature on the impact of museum to the development of Nigerian universities. It will also be of value to student who intend to carry out a research on the same topic.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study will examine Museum and its Impact on Academic Development in Nigerian Universities. The study will also, examine the importance of museum to the development of Nigerian university. Furthermore the study will find out the challenges of museum in contributing to the development of Nigerian university. Lastly ,the study will examine the strategies the management of museum can use in developing Nigerian universities. Hence the study is delimited to Obafemi Awolowo University( OAU) Ile Ife, Osun state.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study was constrained by a number of factors which are as follows:

Just like any other research, ranging from unavailability of needed accurate materials on the topic under study, inability to get data.

Financial constraint , was faced by  the researcher ,in getting relevant materials  and  in printing and collation of questionnaires.

Time factor: time factor pose another constraint since having to shuttle between writing of the research and also engaging in other academic work making it uneasy for the researcher

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Museum: a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.

Academic development: practices designed to enhance the performance of an institution of higher education

REFERENCES

Edward, P.A. (2007).. Museums in motion: an introduction to the history and functionsof museums. Meridian: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

F. R. N. (2004): National Policy on Education. Lagos: NERDC.

Findlen, P. (2009). Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture inEarly Modern Italy. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, p.3

Oni, J. O. (1997): The Administration of Nigerian Higher Education System. Abeokuta:Gbemi Sodipo Press Ltd.

Tezcan, H and Akmehmet, K. A (2007 ). Çocuk Eğitiminde Etkin Bir Ortam OlarakMüze.www.sanart.org.tr/artengaged/ArtEngagement_KadriyeTezcan_Abstract+CV.p

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