Please this isthe first draft of my assay. I am applying for a pmasters program in research and innovation in higher education and the application requires an essay. Please my teachers i need your perfect advices and touches. Don,t be easy on me.

NAME: Anonymous
TOPIC: From your own experience: What would you change at your university?
PERSPECTIVE: Student
I sat in the front role in order not to be distracted by the faintest of noise. With my hand moving swiftly across my notebook, I was jotting everything I could ensuring I did not miss a word. It was an extra class organized by my favorite lecturer to complete the aspect of the course we had lagged behind. Though it was a weekend, but still the class was filled to full capacity as no one could afford to miss his class. I watched him closely as he taught and reasoned quietly in my mind “there is something unique about him”. He repeatedly explained each aspect of the topic, asking the class if we understood or not, until everyone got a clear picture of what he was talking about. Apart from his undoubted ability to pass-on knowledge in simplified form, another reason why students hardly fail his course and the class filled to the brim is his simplicity of character. At a point during his lecture, the writing pen faded out and needed to be replaced. It is a custom that students run errands for lecturers; at least it has been so since I started learning. He announced to the class that we had run out of ink, but rather than ask the class to provide a pen , he picked up his glasses and stepped out of the classroom. Few minutes later he came back into the classroom with a new pen and sweat dripping all over his forehead. He had gotten it from a bookshop few meters away. For the university to function at full capacity, knowledge needs to be imparted in simplified form with the humblest of character. I would have the recruitment process of lecturers be reviewed to employ only those with a mix of both abilities as they have what it takes to build students with that exceptional ability to apply knowledge of a definite content matter in a changing environment.
To enrich the knowledge being transferred in the four walls the classroom is the acquisition of hands-on skills through a strong interaction between the university, industries and research institutions. In the second semester of the third or fourth year in school, students are exposed to the industrial environment where they are expected to learn new practices, processes, methods, work with cutting-edge research equipment and braced themselves for the labour market. They are expected to do all this within six months. This I believe have contributed to the production of half-baked graduates whom companies spend huge amount of money to retrain before they could assume a position they ordinary should occupy by the virtue of the course they studied. I would have established a strong partnership between the university, companies and research institutes right from the first year of study. Laboratories would be built and customized by different companies to get students familiar with the latest technology. This would go a long way to curb waste of resources (by the company) and enable graduates to be self reliant after school.
Students are further exposed to the core practical aspect of their course in the final year of study, where they are required to carry out under supervision, a research project. The provision for the graduate research project has been under utilized as most researches are only carried out basically because they are part of the requirement to be fulfilled before graduation. It could be channeled to meet current social needs of their immediate environment and further extended to national and international level. The project topic, rather than being a part of an ongoing research carried out by the supervisor, portioned out to the student in order to cut cost or aimlessly chosen by the student for ease of completion; it should be inspired by challenges being encountered in the student’s area of study at localized (For instance, a student could choose to conduct a research in order to ease traffic congestion on our major road). I would have the aims and objectives of graduate research project redirected towards this end and the students made aware of this as the sole purpose of conducting one. This will help develop the society and establish students as problem solvers and solution providers.
On the other hand, some course modules which are meant to equip students with soft skills needed for the labour market that appears only once and late in the study year should appear early and repeated during each session. In the final year, students are required to present an oral seminar on a selected topic to train them on audience communication and oral expression. This is a crucial requirement in the labour market that needs to be developed through continuous practice right from the onset of study year. Such courses should not be limited to the final year of studies. I would have them incorporated into as course modules in each session for continuous practice and gradual development.
No matter the number of changes that is made to a system, if there is no continuity, a positive result cannot be sustained. Many initiatives and innovations which brought about positive changes have been whisked away by changes in administration over time; they only lasted as long as their initiators did. At a point during my studies in school, it had almost become a tradition for the school authority to recognize and reward the best performance in every department every session. This had a way of having the students put in their best each semester in order to qualify for the reward. Unfortunately, due to a change in institutional leadership, the initiative, along with its aims and drive, was ushered out with the previous administration due to a change in leadership. I believe such inconsistency would not lead to a positive development in the end. I would have innovations and initiatives outlive the administration which introduced it. This could further be ensured by having more higher education management experts take the lead when it comes to policy and decision making.
In conclusion, one of the major ways to sustain socio-economic growth and development in an ever changing global economy is to encourage partnership between universities (being the source of human resource) and other stakeholders of development both within and beyond national level. For a university to be part of such partnership, it has to develop and maintain a standard that can be compared to other institution locally and international. My university could enjoy more of such partnership if the recruitment process of lecturers is checked to employ only excellent lecturers with undoubted ability to impart knowledge in simplified form and a humble character to back it up; and a strong and well maintained relationship with research institutions starting at an early stage during the study year for gradual development and acquisition of hands-on skills. Appropriation of the aims and objectives of research projects conducted by students to meet social needs, incorporation of course modules early in the study year that will further prepare potential graduates for the experiences in the labour market, and improvement of management and organization of the system through placing higher education management professionals in prominent positions for proper decision and policy making to ensure the continuity of positive initiatives and innovation for development, are changes with cannot be done without.