89      Volume 5 Number 3 (2015) 89-99 ISSN 2045-8452 (Print) ISSN 2045-8460 (Online) Publishers: Sacha & Diamond, England, United Kingdom www.sachajournals.com Cumulative Impact Factor: 45.07 A SOCIAL ASSESSMENT OF THE GOALS AND REALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NIGERIA JELILOV Gylych, Ph.D 1 and TOPARSLAN, Ilyas 2 1 Department of Economics, Nigerian Turkish Nile University, Abuja, FCT, Nigeria 2 Education Science Institute, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether quality and quantity have long been recognized as primary factors in explaining educational development in most Less Developed Countries (LDCs) with particular emphasis in Nigeria. In order to further comprehend the trend and forms of this supposed relationship; we first conceptualized the historical development and performance of educational sector in Nigeria. We employed both descriptive statistics and regression analysis in examining the potency or otherwise of qualitative and quantitative educational sector development in Nigeria. We found that both factors are significantly important in explaining inclusive higher educational development in Nigeria; however, they both fall short in provision, even as our study recommends that effort, particularly by the government should be geared toward encouraging further provision of quality higher education in Nigeria through increased spending and partnership with the private sector. Keywords: Education, Quality Education, Nigeria. JEL Classifications: A10, A19, A21, A22 1. INTRODUCTION Education is a complex business with many interacting dimensions of quality and quantity affecting, in many varied contexts, the growth and development of the system. Quality and quantity have long been recognized as primary factors explaining the educational development in many countries all over the world. To understand the pattern and forms of this relationship, it is necessary to first conceptualize the variables involved and the relationships between them. To start with, for last 30 years quality is the main target at the top of most programmes and has been one of the basic means of competition. Even now, improvement of standards is still the main target in the future success of the national development. However, many stakeholders in education still see the concept of quality as ambiguous and elusive, making its comprehension a bit difficult. This is essentially true in education, unlike in industrial sector where products with quantifiable qualities exist. Letuka et al, the educational product is intangible and the customer difficult to identify (Letuka J.L., Maharasoam., Strydorn A.H., 2001). Regardless of this, quality has become the focus of attention in assessing AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES