FAVOUR ISHEMBER, Abuja
The National Universities Commission says Nigeria’s higher education future now hinges on producing graduates who can build enterprises, not just earn degrees, as it rallies universities, government, and global partners to turn research into societal impact.
Speaking at the opening of the International Conference on Academic Entrepreneurship, Knowledge and Technology Transfer in Nigerian Universities, NUC Executive Secretary Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu said the Commission’s Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards, CCMAS, was designed for exactly that shift.
Ribadu told participants that CCMAS moves beyond traditional lecture models to learner-centered, competency-based education. The framework, he explained, equips students with disciplinary knowledge plus entrepreneurial skills, digital competencies, critical thinking, and adaptability for today’s workplace.
“The future of higher education depends on its ability to prepare graduates for a rapidly changing world,” Ribadu said. “The success of modern universities will not be measured only by the quality of teaching and research. It will also be measured by their ability to convert ideas into innovation, innovation into enterprise, and research into societal impact.”
The 3-day conference drew university leaders, researchers, policymakers, development agencies, and delegates from Germany’s University of Koblenz and University of Erfurt. Ribadu said their presence reflects a shared commitment to strengthening higher education’s role in driving innovation and enterprise.
He noted that universities worldwide are being called to move beyond teaching and research to become centers of creativity, enterprise, and societal transformation. For Nigeria, he added, achieving this requires stronger partnerships among academia, government, industry, and investors, plus institutional cultures that reward creativity and innovation.
Through the NUC’s collaboration with the German universities, Ribadu said the goal is to accelerate the development of innovation ecosystems. Those ecosystems, he argued, will help Nigerian universities compete globally while responding to local and national challenges.
Ribadu urged all participants to engage openly, share experiences, and produce actionable recommendations to embed entrepreneurship and innovation across universities.
He expressed confidence that the conference outcomes will advance a vision of universities that produce graduates equipped to innovate, research that addresses real challenges, and knowledge that creates value for society.
Ribadu made this the benchmark for university success going forward. Per CCMAS, NUC isn’t just adding “entrepreneurship” as a course. The framework pushes universities to train students in digital competencies, critical thinking, and adaptability specifically for the workplace.
On the bigger shift, the Executive Secretary said is measuring universities by their “ability to convert ideas into innovation, innovation into enterprise, and research into societal impact.” That means stronger, structured partnerships with industry and investors, not ad-hoc collaborations.
NUC’s view is that without those links, research stays in journals instead of solving real problems. Institutional culture has to change too; universities need to reward creativity and innovation internally for this to work.
The presence of the University of Koblenz and the University of Erfurt wasn’t ceremonial. Ribadu called the partnership proof that collaboration advances NUC’s goals.
He explained that through it, NUC plans to accelerate the development of innovation ecosystems in Nigerian universities. The aim, he said, is two-fold: to help Nigerian universities compete globally and make them more effective at tackling local/national challenges.
So the German universities are being tapped as models/partners for building the structures that connect academic research, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer, the ES said.
Ribadu asks for the conference to turn this into “actionable recommendations” on embedding that culture across all Nigerian universities.
A keynote by Harald Korflesch from Germany’s University of Koblenz centered on making academic entrepreneurship more professional and boosting how research gets turned into marketable products.
Korflesch emphasized that higher education institutions need to adopt what he called the “third mission” , moving beyond teaching and research to deliver tangible benefits for society.
He noted that although many universities already operate startup programs, incubators, and hackathons, the results have been modest.
“There’s no funding. This is truly something that, once again, comes from our passion and personal drive,” he said while discussing joint projects between German and African universities.
Korflesch also highlighted the disconnect between scholarly work and commercial success, pointing out that universities generate strong research but often fail to convert it into sustainable companies.
“We excel at research and innovation, yet we don’t commercialise sufficiently. We don’t extract enough value from the research,” he stated.
He urged universities to build more robust entrepreneurship training tied to practical projects, foster closer collaboration with industry, and create clear routes for turning research into businesses. That includes early-stage proof-of-concept financing and support for launching spin-offs.
Korflesch further stressed that alumni and diaspora connections are crucial for building stronger innovation ecosystems.
He wrapped up by urging universities to shift focus from simply offering entrepreneurship to ensuring it’s done effectively and at high quality: “the question isn’t if we should do it – that decision’s made – it’s about how and how well we do it.”
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