<![CDATA[Tertiary education in Nigeria has been facing challenges of quality that become a serious concern to the entire citizens particularly stakeholders for that it is the tool relied upon for growth and development of the country. This study aimed at exploring institutionalised ethical issues in Nigeria’s tertiary education system and inductively speculate whether they are capable of posing a threat to the expected quality for effectiveness. Qualitative method of research was employed in the study using interview protocol to 18 participants drawn purposively from regulatory agencies of the tertiary institutions by their categories, other governmental agencies that make policies and or have necessary stake in tertiary education, and a randomly selected tertiary institution each from the four broad categories. After applying thematic techniques of analysis from the raw interview data collected, themes were identified that confirmed existence of ethical issues condensed in mutilated funding, corruption, autonomy factor, institutionalisation of tertiary education, politicisation and marketisation in the tertiary education sector. Presence of the institutionalised ethical issues raised is a shared responsibility of all stakeholders, and consequential resistance is seemingly difficult. It is therefore concluded that by their strength, the issues are capable of weakening the normative quality of Nigeria’s tertiary education as defined by the National Policy on Education (NPE), hence the need for a realistic improvement.]]>
