15SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
Mohammed Ademilokun, 
Rotimi Taiwo
obafemi awolowo University, Nigeria
2023, vol. 20 (1), 15-39(228)
journals.uni-lj.si/elope
https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.20.1.15-39
UDC: 316.77:378(669.1)
Discursive Construction of Higher Education 
Institutional Academic Identities in Nigeria
aBStraCt
There is an increase in brand marketing on the websites of universities in a bid to present the 
kind of identities that will best promote them. This study examines the identities universities 
project to market their brands within the context of consumer culture of the contemporary 
higher educational setting. Data for the study were obtained from the websites of 24 public 
and private universities in Nigeria and were analysed based on fairclough’s (2015) dialectical 
relational theory and roper and Parker’s (2006) insights on branding. The findings reveal 
seven kinds of identity: professional, national, transnational, humanist, afrocentric, ethnic 
and religious. These identities range from the ideal to narrow-interest ones. The study 
concludes that identity construction in any university should aim primarily at advancing 
knowledge and producing total graduates who would be able to adapt and survive in any part 
of the world and contribute meaningfully to societal development. 
Keywords: identity, higher education, university, branding, marketization
Diskurzivno oblikovanje visokošolskih institucionalnih 
akademskih identitet v Nigeriji
IZvLeČek
Na spletnih straneh univerz se povečuje oglaševanje le-teh kot blagovnih znamk, pri  čemer 
se poskušajo predstaviti z identitetami, ki jih bodo najbolje promovirale. Predmet raziskave 
so identitete, ki jih univerze oblikujejo za potrebe samooglaševanja kot blagovnih znamk 
v kontekstu potrošniške kulture sodobnega visokošolskega okolja. raziskava temelji na 
podatkih, pridobljenih na spletnih straneh štiriindvajsetih javnih in zasebnih univerz v 
Nigeriji in analiziranih na podlagi faircloughove (2015) dialektične relacijske teorije ter 
razumevanja marketinga po roperju in Parker (2006). rezultati raziskave kažejo na sedem 
vrst identitet: poklicno, nacionalno, transnacionalno, humanistično, afrocentrično, etnično 
in versko. končna  ugotovitev je, da mora pri oblikovanju identitete vsaka univerza stremeti 
predvsem k visokemu nivoju znanja in produkciji odličnih diplomantov, ki se bodo znali 
prilagoditi in preživeti v kateremkoli delu sveta ter smiselno prispevati k razvoju družbe.  
Ključne besede: identiteta, visoko šolstvo, univerza, blagovna znamka, oglaševanje
16 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
1 Introduction 
This study investigates the construction of identities on the websites of universities in Nigeria, 
as these universities attempt to market themselves and present their brands to the public. 
In the last one and a half decades, the Nigerian government has embarked on policies 
and reforms leading to the liberalization of the economy with the goal of moving towards 
a market-driven economy. The liberalization policies have also affected higher education, 
leading to the massification of universities and other higher institutions in the country in line 
with the increase in demand for higher education. The National Minimum Standards and 
establishment of Institution acts, which came into being in May, 1999 made the granting of 
licenses to private individuals and organizations to establish universities possible. The number 
of universities approved by the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) had grown to 219 
as at the end of 2021, while several others are awaiting approval by the commission (www.
nuc.edu.ng). This comprises 49 federal universities, 59 state-owned ones and 111 private 
universities. 
Due to the large number of universities in the country there is also a high level of competition, 
especially among the privately owned ones. Unlike the public ones, very few Nigerians can 
afford to pay the very high fees charged by private universities, therefore limiting their 
enrolments. It then becomes imperative for private universities to compete for the limited 
number of Nigerians who can afford them. The need to do brand marketing also becomes 
very important in order to attract students and other stakeholders. University websites are 
thus one of the most visible spaces for branding, presentation of universities’ identities, and 
marketization. Public universities are also not left out in the process of marketization and 
identity formation, as they are conscious of operating in a very competitive market, where 
ranking in terms of performance indicators, such as teaching, research, citations, international 
outlook, and graduate employability play major roles in their recognition and patronage 
by the public. This study therefore examines how selected Nigerian universities brand 
themselves through identity formation on their websites, thereby leading to marketization 
of their institutions.
2 Literature Review
The increase in the number of universities in Nigeria has been motivated and necessitated 
by the tremendous growth in demand for university education in the country (akpotu and 
akpochafu 2009). This increase has naturally brought about strategic marketing efforts by these 
institutions through brand marketing (Mogaji, Maringe, and hinson 2020), sloganeering 
(ayinuola and francis 2021; farinloye, adeola, and Mogaji 2020), the formulation of clear 
vision and mission statements (ashiru and oludare 2015; efe and ozer 2015) and strong 
institutional identities (Wayne, farinloye, and Mogaji 2020), such as through “about us” texts 
on the related websites (Xiong and Li 2020), in order to compete favourably for patronage 
by stakeholders.
In spite of the challenge of affordability and in the face of the stiff competition among private 
universities with regard to the existing public universities, both kinds of institutions have 
developed strategies for attracting students and staff through brand marketing. While the 
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Construction of 
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Institutional 
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private universities capitalize on the deficiencies of the public ones to market themselves, 
emphasizing a stable academic calendar, good learning resources, conducive environment, ease 
of gaining admission, running courses that are in high demand, better research opportunities 
for faculties, and stronger lecturer-student relationships, among other factors, the public 
universities emphasize their experience and strength of faculty, among others.
Studies on the marketing, identity construction and branding of universities have identified 
specific contextual spaces for their display, such as the websites and hard copy publications of 
such institutions. Marketing elements are typically displayed in logos (ead and Saleh 2021), 
vision and mission statements (Banda and Mafofo 2014; ashiru and oludare 2015), mottos 
and slogans (Shanaz and Qadir 2020), leaders’ speeches (teo and ren 2019), and information 
about the university (about us) (Zhang 2017; Wu and Cheong 2020).
Studies on the marketization of universities include fairclough (1993), hoang and rojas-
Lizana (2015), Xu, Xie, and Lei (2021), and ead and Saleh (2021), among others. for 
instance, fairclough (1993) identifies an increasing tendency towards marketization and 
commodification of discursive practices in contemporary discourses that concern British 
universities, owing to their expectation to raise a proportion of their funding from private 
sources. he notes that major issues driving the marketization agenda of such universities 
include ranking, staff quality, citations per staff member as well as environment for learning. 
hoang and rojas-Lizana (2015, 3) focus on how universities have adopted academic 
marketing in their discursive practices by investigating “how two australian universities 
represent themselves in response to social changes through the use of language on their 
institutional websites”. The authors show that visual elements such as logos, images and 
videos play important roles in the representation of the universities. 
Xu, Xie, and Lei (2021) also examine the marketization process of top-tier Chinese universities 
by scrutinising their self-promotional strategies over the past two decades. Their study focuses 
on the attitudinal markers in the “about us” texts of the selected universities with a view 
to identifying the major themes in the texts. The study identifies seven major themes that 
were positively appraised by the universities at both time points. ead and Saleh (2021) is a 
critical discourse analysis of the shapes, images, symbols and colours used in logos of eight 
universities in egypt. The authors observe that in marketing the various programmes the 
universities offer and project the relevance and images of the institutions. The logos project 
the cultural heritage, religious beliefs and past history of civilization.
There are also studies on the branding of universities, including Dogan (n.d.), valitov (2014), 
Mampaey and huisman (2016), Bhattacharya and faisal (2020), among others. Dogan 
(n.d.) examines the corporate credibility of universities with three distinct naming strategies: 
strategies based on the name of a person, city or location and region of location. The study 
shows that the name of a famous person is preferred over the city of location, although the 
reverse is sometimes true. The study further shows that region of location-based names are 
the least preferred type of university name. Mampaey and huisman (2016) examines the 
transformation to a more market-oriented steering approach in a european higher education 
context. The findings indicate that some similar tendencies are visible, although brand 
differentiation could also be identified between highly and lowly reputed institutions.
18 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
Bhattacharya and faisal (2020) examine how the media were used for branding of higher 
education during the CovID-19 pandemic. The authors note that the emergence of 
CovID-19 altered the previous reliance on newspaper advertisements, radio jingles, career 
counselling workshops, education fairs, billboards, and so. however, the authors note that 
higher education started using social media in this time to get a competitive advantage.
There have also been a few studies on identity in academic discourse, such as Bucholtz and 
hall (2005). The authors study identity and interaction from a socio-cultural linguistic 
approach, and assert that identity is a social and cultural phenomenon. In addition, they 
also observe that “identities encompass macro-level demographic categories, temporary and 
interactionally specific role and local ethnographically emergent cultural positions” (Bucholtz 
and hall 2005, 592). Much more important to the current study is the view that identities 
may be “linguistically indexed through labels, implicatures, stances, styles and linguistic 
structures and system” (Bucholtz and hall 2005, 594). as will soon be seen in the analysis 
presented below, institutional identities are often constructed by deploying different linguistic 
styles and discursive strategies to highlight prominent aspects of institutional identities. 
Looking further into evaluative, affective and epistemic orientations in discourse, some 
scholars have studied authorial identities in an academic context, especially, students’ writing 
and journal articles (flowerdew and Wang 2015, karoly 2009 and rahimivand and kuhi 
2014). flowerdew and Wang (2015) examine identity in academic discourse and stress the 
nexus between voice and academic identity. They also assert and demonstrate how identities 
are often constructed based on the conventions of specific communities of disciplinary 
practices (see also hyland, 2004; 2005).
karoly (2009) investigates the expression of authorial identity in some research articles and 
Master’s theses written in english, and underscores the deployment of more author pronouns 
by less experienced writers rather than by expert writers. The author concludes that student 
writers need more training in english for academic Purpose for them to be conversant with 
various aspects of style that take account of the students’ stereotypical cultural, linguistic, 
academic and educational backgrounds.
The present study rests on the assertions that identity is critical to any form of writing, that 
authorial voice is the way individuals represent or identify themselves in their discourse, and 
branding through marketization is essential for identity. In spite of the surfeit of studies on 
authorial identities in academic discourse, there is a lack of knowledge on academic identity 
construction for the branding of universities on institutional websites in Nigeria.
3 Methodology
Data for the study comprise texts on the profiles of selected universities in Nigeria culled from 
the websites of the respective institutions. The data were obtained from four universities, 
two public and two private ones, in each of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, making a 
total of twenty-four data samples. The decision to obtain data from institutions from all the 
geopolitical zones was informed by the need to reflect the diversity of Nigeria and universities 
in the country, while data from each of the regions was purposively obtained focusing of the 
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length of the profiles of the institutions and their richness. The data samples were obtained 
over a period of six months (from July to December 2021) after the websites of the institutions 
were monitored for changes in their self-descriptions in order to ensure that the data used for 
the research represent the current vision statements of the institutions. 
 Specifically, different texts such as the “about us”, history, and vision and mission statements 
of the selected twenty-four universities constituted the data for the study. however, for 
data analysis we purposively selected different parts of the various texts from the different 
institutions that are relevant for the kind of analysis afforded by the precepts for analysis in 
fairclough’s dialectical relational approach and roper and Parker’s theory of branding.  
after gathering the data, the researchers closely studied them and marked out the different 
identities that are constructed through different linguistic features, particularly lexical 
features and the issues raised in the profiles of the selected institutions. Through further 
close reading of the data, the researchers marked out various parts of the texts that yield 
to roper and Parker’s (2006) ideas on branding and subsumed them under the various 
identities already established from the data. We thus show how the expressive resources 
for creating the various identities were further used for branding the institutions. In the 
presentation of excerpts for data analysis, we purposively selected the marked parts of the 
data that specifically projected various identities, while at the same time trying to reflect 
the diversity of the institutions whose profiles constitute the corpus for the study. table 
1 presents basic information about the institutions whose webpages were analysed for the 
purposes of the present study. 
table 1. Basic information about the institutions included in the analysis.
SN Name of Institution Brief Information on Institution
South South
1. University of Benin a second-generation federal university in Benin City, the 
capital of edo State. 
2. rivers State University one of the first set of state-owned universities in Nigeria. It 
is located in Port harcourt, the capital of rivers State and 
owned by the rivers State government. 
3. Benson Idahosa 
University
a private university owned by the Church of god Mission 
International. It is located in Benin City, edo State.
4 Igbinedion University one of the first set of private universities in Nigeria. It is 
located at okada, edo State. It is owned by Chief gabriel 
Igbinedion, a business man.
South East
5. University of Nigeria, 
Nsukka
one of the first-generation universities in Nigeria owned 
by the federal government. It is located in Nsukka enugu 
State.
6. Nnamdi azikiwe 
University, awka
a federal government-owned university located in awka, 
the capital of anambra State.
7. Madonna University a private university in okija, anambra State. It is owned 
by the Catholic Church.
20 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
8. renaissance University This is a private university located in enugu, owned by 
Chimaroke Nnamani, the former governor of enugu 
State. 
South West
9. obafemi awolowo 
University
a first-generation university, owned by the federal 
government and located in Ile-Ife, osun State.
10. University of Lagos a first-generation university owned by the federal 
government and located in Lagos, the commercial capital 
of Nigeria.
11. Covenant University a private university owned by the Living faith Ministries 
and located in ota, ogun State.
12. redeemer’s University a private university owned by the redeemed Christian 
Church of Christ and located in ede, osun State.
North Central
13. University of abuja a federal university located in abuja, the capital city of 
Nigeria and within the federal Capital territory.
14. University of Ilorin a federal government-owned university located in Ilorin, 
kwara State.
15. veritas University a private university owned by the Catholic Church. The 
university is located in abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
16. Landmark University, 
omuaran
a private university owned by the Living faith Ministries. 
The university is located in omu aran in kwara State.
North East
17. Modibbo adama 
University of 
technology, yola
a federal government-owned university based in yola, the 
capital of adamawa State.
18. federal University, 
Wukari
a federal government-owned university based in Wukari, 
taraba State.
19. american University of 
Nigeria, yola
a private university owned by atiku abubakar, former 
vice President of Nigeria. It is located in yola, the capital of 
adamawa State.
20. kwararafa University, 
Wukari
This is a private community-owned university located in 
Wukari, taraba State.
North West
21. Uthman Dan fodio 
University
a federal government-owned university based in Sokoto, 
the headquarters of the Islamic religion in Nigeria. 
22. federal University, 
Dutsinma
a federal government-owned university located in 
Dutsinma, katsina State. 
23. Skyline University a private university located in kano, the foremost 
commercial city in the north-west of Nigeria.
24. al-Istiqama University a private university located in Sumaila, kano State. 
4 Theoretical Framework
The study employs an eclectic theoretical framework for data analysis as it combines 
fairclough’s (2015) dialectical relational approach to critical discourse analysis with roper 
and Parker’s (2006) idea on branding. fairclough’s dialectical relational approach provides 
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for analysis of various discourse levels of analysis such as description, interpretation and 
explanation (fairclough 2000). at the level of description, attention is paid to the formal 
features of a discourse such as vocabulary (lexis and metaphor), grammar, cohesion and text 
structure. for interpretation, attention is paid to how meanings of texts link the texts with 
their contexts. finally, at the level of explanation, the analyst focuses on meanings relating 
to the broad ideological and topical issues underlying identity construction for universities 
in Nigeria. The choice of fairclough’s (2015) dialectical relational approach is based on its 
provisions for the explication of issues relating to social change and the analysis of expressive 
resources in discourses.
The other component of the theoretical framework, which is roper and Parker’s (2006) 
theory of branding, explicates branding as identification, differentiation,  and personification, 
and the brand as asset. according to roper and Parker (2006, 57), the original purpose of 
branding was for identification. Branding in this regard serves the purpose of ensuring that 
consumers recognize a product. at this level of analysis of a branded text, the analyst thus 
pays attention to the linguistic features that are used to identify the branded item, in the 
case of this study, the selected Nigerian universities. The second paradigm for analysis is 
the differentiation dynamic of branding. here, according to roper and Parker (2006, 57), 
due to the increased competition among companies and service providers, a brand needs to 
differentiate itself from other brands. In the context of this study, it will be interesting to 
analyse the linguistic features institutions use to create unique identities for themselves in 
the face of competition for students, staff and funding by the many universities in Nigeria.
Closely related to branding as differentiation is branding as personification. here attention 
is paid to how the physical, aesthetic, rational and emotional elements of a brand are 
foregrounded to typify it. So, beyond differentiating themselves from other universities in 
Nigeria, this study will examine how the universities typically portray their inherent features 
and create identities for themselves. finally, the analyst also examines a brand as an asset by 
focusing on the value of such a brand. Under this, it is possible to examine the value placed on 
the institutions by themselves regarding their leadership in provision of university education 
in Nigeria, internationality, stability, evolution of new trends, and perceived quality, among 
other factors. 
5 Data Analysis
In the competitive educational context of Nigeria, Nigerian universities have been working 
hard to construct distinct identities which then form the basis for marketing themselves 
to potential stakeholders – students, parents, companies, funding agencies, etc. In earlier 
work, Shamaz and Qadir (2020) report that a corporate identity is the most prominent 
identity constructed by Pakistani universities. kenway and Bullen (2001) find that students 
are constructed as educational commodities, while ayaawan (2021) reports that educational 
institutions are constructed as businesses offering academic services in ghana. rogendorf 
(2008) shows that in New Zealand, corporate identity is often constructed, among other 
identities. In Nigeria, however, our data show that professional identity, national identity, 
transnational identity, ethnic identity, humanist identity, afrocentric identity and religious 
22 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
identity typify the marketization of universities. This section presents these kinds of identities 
projected in the data and a discussion on how they constitute marketization within the 
Nigerian education context.
5.1 Professional Identity
a very significant kind of identity that higher institutions construct in order to brand 
themselves is professional identity. for the purpose of this study, professional identity refers to 
the identity pertaining to career foci or job prospects which the programmes of the institutions 
sampled in this study focus on. This manifests in the attempts by higher institutions to portray 
themselves as focusing on certain fields or areas of research. Constructing a professional 
identity becomes necessary in a world where professionalism is gaining importance and 
students would prefer studying professional courses, which many universities offer. Moreover, 
the creation of specialized universities in Nigeria in response to specific national needs has 
brought about certain universities focusing on some specific subsectors of the economy, such 
as agriculture, technology, education, medicine, and petroleum, because of their importance 
for national development. for many of these specialized universities, their names are their 
first identities. It is, however, noteworthy that there are some universities in Nigeria that 
construct professional identities for themselves without necessarily reflecting such identities 
in their names. Let us consider an extract from what Landmark University, omu aran tagged 
“our Story”, shown in example (1).
(1) 
 
 
In example (1) above, Landmark University creates a professional identity for itself by showing that their focus is on 
meeting one of the most basic human needs – food. This is graphologically expressed through the foregrounding of the 
lexical item “FOOD” in the text which is presented as the ultimate goal of the research focus of the institution. The vision 
of the university further constructs this professional identity as an agriculture-focused one. The construction of a 
professional identity in the text reflects Fairclough’s dialectical relational approach principle that “[t]exts semiotically 
construe identities and simultaneously seek to make these construals persuasive” (Fairclough 2016, 101). A close look at 
the example also shows that, through the text, Roper and Parker’s (2006) idea of branding as identification is enacted. This 
manifests in the association of the institution with the Living Faith Church Worldwide as its owner, which conforms with 
Roper and Parker’s (2006) prescription on branding for the purpose of identification. Similarly, through the same text 
there is the enactment of branding as personification. Since de Chernatony and Dall’Olmo Riley (1998, 418) state that 
“company, identity system, image, value system, personality, relationship and added value can be combined to form the 
personality of a brand”, the presentation of Landmark University as concerned with producing leaders who will ensure the 
production of food is an effort in branding the institution for personification. The example below also indexes professional 
identity: 
(2)  To be a leading world class university, by spearheading an agrarian revolution on the African continent through the 
exploration of hidden treasures in the mother-earth thereby restoring the dignity of the black race. (Landmark University, 
Omu Aran, https://lmu.edu.ng/about-lmu/vision-and-mission) 
The agricultural revolution has always been at the centre of most agro-economic policies of the Nigerian government, as 
it is a major way of diversifying the crude oil-based economy. Through these narratives, the university not only targets a 
set of students interested in agriculture-related courses, but also presents itself as committed to solving one of the problems 
in Nigerian society, which is the provision of food, that is metaphorically described as “hidden treasures in the mother-
earth.” Thus, there is the continuation of the streak of branding for personification in the profile of Landmark University 
as the university is portrayed as largely interested in the “agrarian revolution” even though there is also the idea of branding 
as differentiation implicit in the text as the university is distinguished as one that focuses on agriculture. Another example 
elucidating professional identity follows: 
(3) Brief History of the University 
Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola formally known Federal University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa state 
Nigeria was established in 1981 by the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide the much needed technologically skilled 
In example (1) above, Landmark University creates a professional identity for itself by 
showing that their focus is on meeting one of the most basic human needs – food. This is 
graphologically expressed throug  t e foregrounding of th  lexical item “fo D” in the text 
which is presented as the ultimate goal of the research focus of the institution. The vision of 
the university further constructs this professional identity as an agriculture-focused one. The 
23SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
construction of a professional identity in the text reflects fairclough’s dialectical relational 
approach principle that “[t]exts semiotically construe identities and simultaneously seek to 
make these construals persuasive” (fairclough 2016, 101). a close look at the example also 
shows that, through the text, roper and Parker’s (2006) idea of branding as identification 
is enacted. This manifests in the association of the institution with the Living faith Church 
Worldwide as its owner, which conforms with roper and Parker’s (2006) prescription on 
branding for the purpose of identification. Similarly, through the same text there is the 
enactment of branding as personification. Since de Chernatony and Dall’olmo riley (1998, 
418) state that “company, identity system, image, value system, personality, relationship 
and added value can be combined to form the personality of a brand”, the presentation of 
Landmark University as concerned with producing leaders who will ensure the production 
of food is an effort in branding the institution for personification. The example below also 
indexes professional identity:
(2)  To be a leading world class university, by spearheading an agrarian revolution on the 
African continent through the exploration of hidden treasures in the mother-earth thereby 
restoring the dignity of the black race. (Landmark University, omu aran, https://lmu.
edu.ng/about-lmu/vision-and-mission)
The agricultural revolution has always been at the centre of most agro-economic policies of 
the Nigerian government, as it is a major way of diversifying the crude oil-based economy. 
Through these narratives, the university not only targets a set of students interested 
in agriculture-related courses, but also presents itself as committed to solving one of the 
problems in Nigerian society, which is the provision of food, that is metaphorically described 
as “hidden treasures in the mother-earth.” Thus, there is the continuation of the streak 
of branding for personification in the profile of Landmark University as the university is 
portrayed as largely interested in the “agrarian revolution” even though there is also the idea 
of branding as differentiation implicit in the text as the university is distinguished as one that 
focuses on agriculture. another example elucidating professional identity follows:
(3)  Brief History of the University
Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola formally known Federal University 
of Technology, Yola, Adamawa state Nigeria was established in 1981 by the Federal 
Government of Nigeria to provide the much needed technologically skilled manpower 
for the nation. It is one of the Federal Universities recognized by National Universities 
Commission (NUC) to offer Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degrees in different fields 
of Science and Technology. (Modibbo adama University of technology, yola, http://
mautech.edu.ng/new/index.php/en/about-us/who-we-are/about-mautech)
Moddibo adama University of technology also creates a professional identity through the 
contents of its website. technologically skilled manpower is essentialized in the discourse 
as “much needed for the nation” as a way of marketing the institution. Through this, there 
is a branding of the institution for personification using roper and Parker’s (2006) ideas as 
the institution is portrayed as basically typified by science and technology instruction and 
research. Since several other universities offer courses in science and technology, recognition 
24 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
in the form of accreditation by relevant bodies (most especially the National Universities 
Commission, as is mentioned) plays a major role in shaping opinions of stakeholders. This text 
latched on to this widely held understanding to project the legitimacy and reputation of the 
university and market its degrees from bachelors to doctorates. however, different strategies 
are used in professional identity construction in relation to the accreditation of courses. These 
range from being general (different fields of science and technology), as seen in (3), to being 
specific, as seen in (4) below. however, in addition to branding by professional identity, there 
is also branding as identification. This manifests in the presentation of Modibbo adama 
University of technology as owned by the government. Below is another excerpt featuring 
professional identity in the discourse:
(4)  All our programmes are accredited by the relevant regulatory and professional bodies 
such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), Medical and Dental Council 
of Nigeria (MDCN), Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), Medical Laboratory 
Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), Council of Legal Education (CLE), Nursing and 
Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), Council for the Regulation of Engineering 
in Nigeria (COREN), Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), 
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), etc. (Igbinedion University, 
okada, https://iuokada.edu.ng/vice-chancellors-message/)
for Igbinedion University, listing the relevant regulatory bodies and identifying specific 
professional bodies would go a long way to providing and promoting the necessary information. 
for many professionals, these professional bodies’ recognition confers practical and ethical 
standards on their conduct. Providing such specific information is a strong marketing strategy 
for the professional subjects identified with those professional bodies (medicine, pharmacy, 
medical laboratory science, law, nursing and midwifery, engineering, computer science and 
accounting). This evidences roper and Parker’s (2006) concept of branding as an asset, as 
the institution is presented as having remarkable values which warrants its recognition by the 
numerous professional bodies.
Projecting professional values is an essential means of constructing professional identity. Such 
values include ethics, conduct and a professional appearance, including dress, which are an 
important part of conduct. for Benson Idahosa University, giving information to the public 
on the professional dress code is seen as part of professional identity projection.
(5)  We are Nigeria’s first university with a professional dress code for staff and students.
We are Nigeria’s first university to have a work study programme that allows students to 
study and put in some hours of their week into working to earn some money. (Benson 
Idahosa University, Benin City, https://www.biu.edu.ng/about-biu/why-study-at-
biu/)
The claim of being the first university to have a dress code for staff and students makes 
the information significant for professional identity projection and marketization of the 
university and its professional courses. This information being placed under “Why Study at 
BIU” is specifically drafted for marketing purposes, and is a way of branding the institution 
for differentiation. The use of the expression “first”, which fairclough (2015) accounts for 
25SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
under the level of description bordering on lexis in data analysis, gives the institution the 
image of doing things differently. It also underscores the inculcation of professional ethics 
into students from the university and the support for such values among the university 
staff. however, the branding of the university in the text goes beyond differentiation as 
there is also branding for identification. This manifests in the assertion in the text that the 
university belongs to the wider Nigerian society through the expression “We are Nigeria’s 
first university…”
5.2 National Identity
National values and priorities may be important enough to constitute an identity for some 
universities, and the texts on the websites of Nigerian universities effectively project these in 
line with fairclough’s (2015) claim on the centrality of identity construction to texts. Names 
are bearers of identities, therefore a university, such as the University of Nigeria, already 
projects the national identity through its very name. however, national identity has also been 
constructed in other texts about a university, as can be seen in one of the mandates of rivers 
State University of Science and technology (rSUSt), Port harcourt in example (6).
(6)  RSUST was established to: […] relate its activities to the social, cultural and economic 
needs of the people of Nigeria. (rivers State University of Science and technology, Port 
harcourt, https://www.rsu.edu.ng/index.php/about/who-we-are/about-rsust)
The text above shows the deployment of branding as an asset for the construction of academic 
identity for rSUSt. In the text, there is the essentializing of the goal of the institution by 
projecting it as one which aims at enhancing the social, cultural and economic conditions 
of Nigerians through its activities. This aligns with roper and Parker’s (2006) claim that 
branding as an asset involves indicating the value of a brand. The implication of the projection 
of the value of rSUSt is that the nation is the primary beneficiary of the products of the 
research of the university. In whatever form they come, the research activities would positively 
impact the social, cultural and economic life of the people of Nigeria. The strategic placement 
of this information under the heading “who we are”, which is a statement of identity itself, is 
significant for identity projection on the university’s website.
another projection of national identity is seen in the welcome message of the vice Chancellor 
to the University of abuja, which is the first major narrative on the university’s website. The 
University of abuja is located in the federal capital territory and also named after it. abuja is 
obviously quite symbolic in Nigeria, being the capital. at the level of description in fairclough 
(2000, 2015), one can see that in using lexis, the text producers give the university two appellations 
in the narrative: “the model university in Nigeria” and “a pride of Nigerians and humanity 
in the provision of higher education”. going further in the linguistic analysis as described by 
fairclough (2015) under description, one can see the centrality of two nominal lexical features 
“model” and “pride” used in the similar syntactic structure of MhQ-type nominal groups. 
These two appellations at the levels of interpretation and explanation as espoused by fairclough 
(2015) are projections of how the university wants to be seen in relation to other universities, 
the nation, humanity and the provision of higher education in general.
26 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
(7)  The University of Abuja is the model University in Nigeria, and has developed robust 
developmental strategies to meet and sustain that status and remain a pride of Nigerians 
and humanity in the provision of higher education. It is dedicated to quality teaching, 
learning, and research. It offers both staff and students a serene and conducive environment 
for living, working, teaching, learning, and research. (University of abuja, abuja, 
https://www.uniabuja.edu.ng)
In the text above, in addition to the national identity that is constructed, the text producer 
also brands the University of abuja using branding as differentiation, as it portrays the 
university as different through the lexical item “model”, which also ascribes a status which 
confers on it the “standard” which others have to follow. however, it is noteworthy that 
even though branding as differentiation is primary to the academic identity constructed 
in the text, there is also a subtle deployment of branding as asset, with the university 
being portrayed as giving the nation the value of being a source of pride to her, Nigerians 
and humanity in general. The ultimate goal of teaching, research and service is to address 
social problems. The beneficiaries of these activities are not usually clearly spelt out for 
most universities, since they are meant to assert universal values. Therefore, a deliberate 
essentialization of a nation and its citizens as the prime beneficiaries of any university’s 
products in its mission statement is a strong way of constructing national identity and 
branding the institution as an asset to the people of the nation. This can be seen in the 
vision statement of Nnamdi azikiwe University in example (8). 
(8)  The mission of the University is to use teaching, research, and public service to solve social 
problems. In the process of learning, students would be oriented to use their education 
in solving practical problems confronting them in the Nigerian society and beyond. 
(Nnamdi azikiwe University, awka, https://unizik.edu.ng/about/vision-and-
mission/)
While it is more common to see universities building capacities through the advancement 
of national values on their campuses or affiliates abroad, the strategy of projecting national 
values is not a very common one on the websites of Nigerian universities. This is a way of 
branding such institutions as assets for the circulation of national values in conformity with 
roper and Parker’s (2006) idea on branding as asset. It must be pointed out that national 
identity projection abroad is more common at the lower levels of education – primary and 
secondary. In Nigeria there are some primary and secondary schools established by other 
nations, which project strong identities of these nations through their curricula, such as the 
Lebanese Community School, american International School, British International Schools, 
Netherlands International Schools, Italian International School, enrico Mattei, and so forth. 
It is more common, especially for private universities to compete on projecting an identity 
that transcends their immediate locality or nation for marketing purposes rather than national 
identities. In the next section, this will be fully discussed.
5.3 transnational Identity
By transnational identity, we mean an identity created to show that an entity or person 
is characterized by features that transcend national boundaries. for the universities, this 
27SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
entails presenting themselves as not being localized, but having international appeal. In 
example (9) there is a text evidencing transnational identity in the profile of the american 
University of Nigeria.
(9) 
compete on projecting an identity that transcends their immediate locality or nation for marketing purposes rather than 
national identities. In the next section, this will be fully discussed. 
5.3 Transnational Identity 
By transnational identity, we mean an identity created to show that an entity or person is characterized by features that 
transcend national boundaries. For the universities, this entails presenting themselves as not being localized, but having 
international appeal. In example (9) there is a text evidencing transnational identity in the profile of the American 
University of Nigeria. 
(9) 
  
 
(American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, https://www.aun.edu.ng/index.php/about/overview/history) 
The projection of the identity of the founder, Atiku Abubakar in the text above is an instance of branding as identification. 
The strategy reveals a number of facts about him – his being the former Vice President of the country, the location of the 
university being the capital of his home state, and his vision of establishing an American-style university in Nigeria. 
Moreover, the text producers create a transnational identity for the American University of Nigeria. In the first instance, 
the name of the institution is indicative of the transnational identity constructed. In the name there is reference to both 
America and Nigeria, because while the university is presented as American in nature and style, it is portrayed as something 
which belongs to Nigeria. This portrayal of the university as transnational is meant to show that it is a melting pot of 
Nigerian and American cultures, and a way of showing that students who are privileged to attend the institution will not 
only know about their society but also American culture and way of life. The American identity of the text further manifests 
in the expression “establishing an American style university”, showing that the university is patterned after the American 
University in Washington DC. The transnational identity constructed for the institution, using the branding theory of 
Roper and Parker (2006), is a way of branding the institution through differentiation it from other institutions in Nigeria. 
To further this differentiation, the university’s president has this as part of her message: 
(10) AUN is unlike any other university in this part of the world: we provide a university education based on the US model – 
just as if you were to go to university in the US. (American University of Nigeria, Yola, 
https://www.aun.edu.ng/index.php/about/leadership/president)  
(american University of Nigeria (aUN), yola, https://www.aun.edu.ng/index.php/
about/overview/history)
The projection of the identity of the founder, atiku abubakar in the text ab ve is an insta ce 
of branding as identification. The strategy reveals a number of facts about him – his being the 
former vice President of the country, the location of the university being the capital of his 
home state, and his vision of establishing an am rican-style u iversity in Nigeria. More v r, 
the text producers create a transnational identity for the american University of Nigeria. 
In the first instance, the name of the institution is indicative of the transnational identity 
constructed. In the name, there is reference to both america and Nigeria, because w ile the 
university is presented as american in nature and style, it is portrayed as belonging to Nigeria. 
This portrayal of the university as transnatio al is meant to show that it is a melting pot of 
Nigerian and am rican cultures, and a way of showing that students wh  are privil ged to 
attend the institution will not only know about their society but also american culture and 
way of life. The american identity of the text further manifests in the expression “establishing 
an american style university”, showing that the university is patterned after the american 
University in Washington DC. The transnational identity constructed for the institution, 
using the branding theory of roper and Parker (2006), is a way of branding the institution 
through differentiation it from other institutions in Nigeria. to further this differentiation, 
the university’s president has this as part of her message:
(10) AUN is unlike any other university in this part of the world: we provide a university 
education based on the US model – just as if you were to go to university in the US. 
(american University of Nigeria, yola, https://www.aun.edu.ng/index.php/about/
leadership/president) 
28 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
The differentiation claim that the university is “unlike any other in this part of the world” 
is based on the idea of bringing the american experience to Nigeria’s educational setting 
prompted by the idea of delocalization, and thus establishment of overseas campuses or 
affiliates to further internationalize the university.
It also brands itself as american through the transnational identity of the institution, given 
the fact that the american element in the naming and curriculum will arouse curiosity. 
Beyond this, it is a marketization strategy in the sense that there are many who would derive 
satisfaction from having a sense of attending a university that has some connection with 
america. Through the transnational identity of the institution, the university also prides 
itself as one that is internationalized, thus further marketing itself favourably to the public, 
internationalization being seen as one of the qualities of great higher institutions of learning. 
In an advertisement for admission on the university’s website, there is a slogan “school at 
home, study abroad”, which further strengthens the transnational identity. This slogan co-
constructs the experiences of schooling and studying within the discourse of the transnational 
experience, thus bringing the american Dream (the dream of many young Nigerians) into 
the Nigerian national experience. 
It is important to state that there is an emphasis on foreignness or americanness in the 
construction of transnational identity in the profile of  the american University of Nigeria. 
Drawing insights from fairclough (2016, 101), this emphasis shows the peculiarity of the 
conception of the idea of internationalization by the university as opposed to what obtains 
elsewhere, especially in the Western world. The belief underlying such a perception is that 
internationalization refers to having foreign links or contacts, especially connections with 
one of the most powerful nations in the world, america, even though internationalization 
elsewhere would mean having an international outlook, especially regarding the composition 
of students and lecturers. 
Similar to the aUN’s identity construction is that of the Skyline University of Nigeria, where 
a transnational identity is also expressed in the university profile:
(11) 
The differentiation claim that the university is “unlike any other in this part of the world” is based on the idea of bringing 
the American experience to Nigeria’  educational setti g prompted by the idea of d localizati n, and thus establishment 
of overseas campuses or affiliates to further internationalize the university. 
It also brands itself as American through the transnational identity of the institution, given the fact that the American 
element in the naming and curriculum will arouse curiosity. Beyond this, it is a marketization strategy in the sense that 
there are many who would derive satisfaction from having a sense of attending a university that has some connection with 
America. Through the transnational identity of the institution, the university also prides itself as one that is 
internationalized, thus further marketing itself favourably to the public, internationalization being seen as one of the 
qualities of great higher institutions of learning. In an advertisement for admission on the university’s website, there is a 
slogan “school at home, study abroa ”, which further strengthens the transnational identity. This slogan co-constructs the 
experiences of schooling and studying within the discourse of the transnational experience, thus bringing the American 
Dream (the dream of many young Nigerians) into the Nigerian national experience.  
It is important to state that there is an emphasis on foreignness or Americanness in the construction of transnational 
identity in the profile of  the American University of Nigeria. Drawing insights from Fairclough (2016, 101), this emphasis 
shows the peculiarity of the conception of the idea of internationalization by the university as opposed to hat obtains 
elsewhere, especially in the Western world. T e belief underlying such a perception is that internationalization refers to 
having foreign links or contacts, especially connections with one of the most powerful nations in the world, America, even 
though internationalization elsewhere would mean having an international outlook, especially regarding the composition 
of students and lecturers.  
Similar to the AUN’s identity construction is that of the Skyline University of Nigeria, where a transnational identity is 
also expressed in the university profile: 
(11) 
 
  
(Skyline University Nigeria, Kano, https://oas.sun.edu.ng/Apply/About) 
The transnational identity is expressed in the delocalization and internationalization of the university through the transfer 
of the United Arab Emirates’ experience into Nigeria. The success of Skyline University College in the United Arab 
Emirates is being replicated in Nigeria with the establishment and transfer of the idea of the s me university onto Nigerian 
soil and for Nigerian students, and the name is also intended to reflect this identity. The transnational identity of the 
institution also manifests its depiction as “the first international university… .” It is interesting that, as stated earlier, the 
deployment of “first” for the branding of Skyline University is characteristic of Fairclough’s analytical level of textual 
description where the adjectival lexical item goes to convey meanings border on differentiation in line with Roper and 
Parker’s (2006) postulation at the levels of interpretation and explanation. The international appeal generated through the 
transnational identity of the institution is no doubt a marketization strategy as it has the propensity to attract many 
Nigerian students to have access to “the Dubai experience” or have the opportunity to further their education at the school 
(Skyline University Nigeria, kano, https://oas.sun.edu.ng/apply/about)
29SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
The transnational identity is expressed in the delocalization and internationalization of the 
university through the transfer of the United arab emirates’ experience into Nigeria. The 
success of Skyline University College in the United arab emirates is being replicated in 
Nigeria with the establishment and transfer of the idea of the same university onto Nigerian 
soil and for Nigerian students, and the name is also intended to reflect this identity. The 
transnational identity of the institution also manifests its depiction as “the first international 
university… .” It is interesting that, as stated earlier, the deployment of “first” for the branding 
of Skyline University is characteristic of fairclough’s analytical level of textual description 
where the adjectival lexical item goes to convey meanings bordering on differentiation in line 
with roper and Parker’s (2006) postulation at the levels of interpretation and explanation. 
The international appeal generated through the transnational identity of the institution is 
no doubt a marketization strategy as it has the propensity to attract many Nigerian students 
to have access to “the Dubai experience” or have the opportunity to further their education 
at the school in the United arab emirates. This international appeal and connection, which 
highlight the transnational identity of the institution, are similarly used to brand it as an 
asset in the sense that Nigerian students will benefit from the knowledge of the arab world 
and culture which they will get acquainted with through their lecturers or books on the arab 
world and culture. to further this transnational identity, another extract from the section 
“Why Skyline University, Nigeria” describes the university this way
(12) Primarily, the goal of the university is to be recognized both locally and internationally 
as the citadel of academic excellence. The university boasts of quality staff and faculty 
members drawn from different parts of the world. (Skyline University, kano, https://
www.sun.edu.ng/sun-at-the-glance)
Universities face the potentially conflicting task of responding to both local and global 
demands, and are expected to balance these dual engagements, and this is what Skyline 
University has responded to in example (12). a transnational identity is built into the 
university’s goal, and one of the practical ways of demonstrating this identity is the attraction 
of faculty members from different countries, while remaining socially responsible and relevant 
within the Nigerian local context. The internationality of the faculty of the university is an 
index of its transnational identity and further serves the purpose of branding the institution 
as an asset that offers the best exposure to such an identity to its students.
5.4 humanist Identity
The humanistic approach to education is one of the most advanced in contemporary 
education, because the whole concept of education is about human development through 
knowledge transfer and societal development. The focus in the projection of humanist identity 
is the enhancement of self-worth, self-image and self-actualization. Covenant University has 
developed a system that projects this kind of identity through its curriculum. 
(13) The Total Man Concept (TMC) is Covenant University’s custom-built programme 
that constitutes the core concept of her academic programmes. This concept centres on 
‘developing the man that will develop his world’. The TMC Programme focuses on the 
three components of the human personality: the spirit, the mind and the body. (Covenant 
University, ota, https://covenantuniversity.edu.ng/about-us/overview/about) 
30 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
total human development is a concept that is central to the concern of the United Nations 
Development Programme (UNDP) for which the organization has developed the human 
Development Index (hDI) to measure each of the following three dimensions – a long and 
healthy life, being knowledgeable and having a decent standard of living. The human-centred 
focus of the Covenant University was developed to carve a niche for the institution and 
project its identity as humanistic. This aligns with roper and Parker’s (2006) idea of branding 
as personification as the total man concept is presented as the core of the academic operation 
of Covenant University. This is an uncommon marketization strategy, which is put forward in 
the general context of the promotion of the intellectualism and aesthetics, with little reference 
to the development of the total human personality. 
This kind of identity is also projected by redeemers University, ede in its vision strategy. It 
emphasizes that the “total person” goes beyond intellectual success to latent aspects of the 
human individual, which will together with other, well-emphasized aspects produce the total 
person. 
(14) RUN is not only about academics. The serene atmosphere offers a conducive environment 
for your spiritual and secular development, making you a total person. (redeemers 
University, ede, https://run.edu.ng/vision-mission-strategy/) 
In addition to using the curriculum for achieving total human development, as done by 
Covenant University, redeemer’s University stresses the importance of the environment in 
one’s total development. here, neither universities misses out on the spiritual component of 
the human personality, being Christian mission institutions. 
The University of Nigeria also projects the humanistic identity in its motto, which is: “to 
restore the dignity of man”. Through the expression/motto used to construct the humanistic 
identity at the textual level, as given by fairclough (2015), there is the employment of 
branding as personification, and the restoration of the dignity of human beings is presented 
as an attribute of social and symbolic meaning to redeeemer’s University. education here is 
thus conceptualized as a tool for the restoration of human dignity, and making people realize 
their self-worth is an integral part of the humanistic-centred education. There is also the 
use of synonyms in the excerpt as the lexical items “serene” and “conducive” are both used 
to describe the environment at rUN for the purpose of marketizing it to the public. In the 
process of educating people, their minds are developed, as also expressed in the mission of 
the University of Benin:
(15) To develop the human mind to be creative, innovative, competent in areas of specialization, 
knowledgeable in entrepreneurship and Dedicated Service. (University of Benin, Benin 
City, https://uniben.edu.ng/about/)
vital to human development is the development of the mind, which includes the cognitive 
skills and general intelligence necessary for adaptation and survival. These are spelled out 
in the mission of the university to create the awareness of those needs and the readiness 
to address them as part of its humanistic drive. Through the humanist identity created in 
the text, the producers also deploy branding as personification and branding as asset, based 
31SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
on roper and Parker’s (2006) ideas. They promote the university as essentialized by the 
humanist orientation and list the values that can be obtain from the institution as innovation, 
professional competence, high entrepreneurial capacity and the ability to deliver exceptional 
service. generally, the humanist identities created by these universities serve as a boost to 
promoting them as unique in their approaches to educational services. 
5.5 afrocentric Identity
another form of identity seen in the branding of Nigerian universities is afrocentrism, which 
is used to champion the african cause, values and identity. This resonates with an important 
idea in critical discourse analysis, which is resistance to foreign supremacist thinking and local 
inferiority/inequality to the foreign, which fairclough (2016, 88) notes. What it means to be 
an african from an african perspective may be quite different from how the phenomenon 
is seen by others. With africa’s rich moral heritage of dignity, discipline, diligence, faith, 
honesty and integrity being eroded, these common ideals need re-emphasis in the context of 
the unmitigated acceptance of alien, Western doctrines. Some universities intentionally craft 
their profiles in such a way that they celebrate and project such africanism and afrocentric 
ideas in order to market their brand. The afrocentric identity is foregrounded in the mission 
of Covenant University, thereby projecting the view of the restoration of human dignity, but 
focusing on the black race. 
(16) To create knowledge and restore the dignity of the black race via Human Development 
and Total Man Concept-driven curricula (Covenant University, ota, https://
covenantuniversity.edu.ng/about-us/overview/about/)
Landmark University, an institution with the same owner as Covenant University, has a similar 
narration on the restoration of the dignity of the black race through the agrarian revolution, 
as noted in example in (2). It has always been said that the different forms of oppression the 
black race has gone through over the centuries, such as slavery and colonialism, have made 
it lose its dignity and real identity. But education can be deployed to restore this lost dignity. 
In the pursuit of this goal, Covenant University is one of the universities determined to bring 
africa into the limelight through its human development programme, as expressed in the 
following example (17).
(17) We run with a compelling vision of raising a new generation of leaders African continent. 
(Covenant University, ota, https://covenantuniversity.edung)
In this narrative on the activities of Covenant University, the ultimate goal of the human 
development programme is to “raise a new generation of leaders” specifically for africa, the 
continent of the “black race”. This is no doubt an instance of branding by personification 
as raising a new generation of leaders is presented as the major attribute of the institution, 
and is indeed a vital way of promoting the afrocentric value. This value directly impacts 
on leadership, which is considered as a major challenge for many african countries. It is 
believed that with the kind of education that addresses leadership concerns, the dignity of 
the black race will be restored. The whole idea is articulated as a vision which is described as a 
“compelling” one. to further drive this leadership vision, Covenant University established the 
32 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
african Leadership Development Centre (aLDC) to run innovative leadership trainings on 
leadership competencies. In the words of Dr David oyedepo, the founder of the university: 
(18) The greatest challenge of Africa in the 21st century is leadership. Therefore, the 
African Leadership Development Centre (ALDC) is poised to address issues  of 
Leadership Development across diverse contexts. (Covenant University, ota, https://
covenantuniversity.edu.ng/about-us/operations/african-leadership-development-
centre-aldc)
This narrative further underscores the leadership challenge of africa and the need to address 
it through an afrocentric vision. 
apart from dignity and leadership, another concern projected in the afrocentric identity is 
the african cultural values, which appear to be eroding with the popularization of Western 
values through colonialism. obafemi awolowo University (oaU) emphasizes this aspect 
of the afrocentric identity with the resolve to add value to african culture, apparently by 
projecting it at every opportunity that arises. 
(19) To nurture a teaching and learning community; advance frontiers of knowledge; engender 
a sense of selfless public service; and add value to African culture. (obafemi awolowo 
University (oaU), Ile-Ife, https://oauife.edu.ng/about-oau/vission-mission) 
Like many Nigerian universities, oaU has an institute that promotes african cultural values 
in order to drive its afrocentric identity, and the african value of selflessness is enunciated 
in the profile of oaU excerpted above. all this has been presented in the profile for the 
purpose of branding oaU. In a similar manner as Covenant and Landmark Universities, 
in its “about us” text, aUN also addresses the issue of leadership, which is considered a very 
crucial challenge to the facilitation of the socio-economic development of africa states
(20) The goal of AUN is to train the future leaders of Africa and to serve as both a stimulus 
and agent of economic development throughout the region [...] AUN is committed to 
providing the skills and the leadership essential to advancing the continent’s pressing social 
and economic challenges. (american University, yola, https://www.aun.edu.ng/index.
php/about)
The reference to africa in all the extracts is captured through the use of the lexical items 
“africa”, “region”, “continent” and “black.” It is however interesting that the foregrounding 
of africa in all these narratives is positive, making the essence of the university the training 
of bright minds for the continent. It is generally believed that leadership is the bane of 
development in many african nations, and a close look at the excerpt shows that roper and 
Parker’s (2006) branding as personification and branding as asset are evident in the text. This 
is because the text shows what typifies the university and at the same time what it has to offer. 
as can be seen in the text, to show their passion for african development, these universities 
present themselves as committed to training future leaders for the related countries. 
although afrocentrism may focus on a number of values beyond what has been addressed, 
such as its being a historical/political movement, three key issues have been identified as the 
33SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
basis for driving the afrocentric identity projections on the websites investigated – the dignity 
of the back race, leadership and African cultural values. These issues are considered strong 
enough for emphasis in the higher educational approach to advancing the afrocentric values 
and promoting the african identity. It should also be noted that through the afrocentric 
posturing of the institutions, they also brand themselves as different, peculiar and unique and 
at the same time personalize themselves.
5.6 ethnic Identity
The university is a universal concept of a citadel for promoting the knowledge industry 
through the dispassionate pursuance of scholarship in diverse disciplines. Such an idea is 
therefore not expected to promote ethnic concerns, given the assumption of the composition 
of a university in terms of people from diverse backgrounds. Universities are expected to be 
global in outlook and orientation, and thus free from ethnic biases, but this is not always 
case in practice. ethnic identity refers to certain features that associate a particular person or 
entity with members of an ethnic group in contrast to members of other ethnic groups. from 
our findings, we discovered that certain universities present strong identification with their 
host communities in order to foster harmonious relationships and probably to advance the 
town-gown relationship with the local communities. This can be seen in the “Community 
relations” section of the federal University Dutsin Ma’s website.
(21) Dutsin-ma people and its leaders, particularly the district head of Dutsin-ma, have 
been very hospitable and supportive to University since its establishment. The pioneer 
and subsequent leaderships of the University have done an excellent work of establishing 
and sustaining a mutually beneficial relation with our host community. Therefore, we 
made sure we build upon that through the recruitment of more junior staff and security 
personnel on casual basis from Dutsin-ma and neighbouring towns, sharing our water 
source with our immediate neighbours and repairs of water and electricity equipment, 
donation of computers, classroom furniture etc to public and community schools, making 
our facilities available like venues for events, sport fields and vehicles. (federal University, 
Dutsin-Ma, http://www.fudutsinma.edu.ng)
In spite of the status of a public federal university, the narrative above shows the university’s 
strong identification with the host community, and to sustain this it is reflected in the 
institutions recruitment policy and some social programmes targeted at the community. 
This captures roper and Parker’s (2006) idea on branding as identification. even though the 
university is not presented as being owned by the community, it is presented as inseparable 
from it. The ethnic identity manifests through references to leadership and the people, giving 
the impression of the university enjoying goodwill and a harmonious relationship with the 
community. 
The role ethnicity plays in shaping university identities in Nigeria is becoming more 
prominent. This, of course, cannot be divorced from the conceptions of “community” and 
“ethnicity” in Nigeria and perhaps africa in general. The notion of community in Nigeria 
and africa is rooted in the communal essence of the people, and abakare and okeke (2018, 
67–68) state that “it is a system of social relations in which the claims of the individual is 
34 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
generally put second, next to the claim of the community”. Closely tied to the idea of the 
community is the conceptualization of ethnicity in Nigeria, which defines many if not most 
Nigerians. This of course cannot be separated from the reality that most Nigerians define 
themselves in terms of their ethnicity first before perceiving themselves as Nigerians, since the 
nation is made up of many diverse and distinct ethnic groups. 
ethnic affiliations play prominent roles in the appointments of key officers in public 
institutions, and ordinarily this should be seen as antithetical to the spirit of intellectualism, in 
which competence is rated above any other considerations. But the reality in the contemporary 
Nigerian educational system is that the universities are gradually being “ethnicized”, and 
this process is being legitimized. Quite significant is the motivation to stress ethnic issues 
on the university’s website to make the wider world understand the university’s concerns 
for its host community in order to complement the usual research and teaching duties. 
This kind of information may also become relevant in the light of unhealthy relationships 
that sometimes develop between institutions and their host communities in contemporary 
Nigeria, sometimes leading to attacks and even killings. 
a few communities are strong, cohesive, determined and financially strong enough to 
establish their own universities. Such universities are few, but for them the construction of an 
ethnic identity would not be out of place. Such is the case of kwararafa University in Wukari, 
North eastern, Nigeria.
(22) Kwararafa University Wukari was licensed as Wukari jubilee by the National Universities 
Commission in 2005. It took off in March, 2006 with 61 students as the first community 
promoted University in Nigeria, the first university in Taraba State and the second 
private university in the North East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Located at Wukari an 
ancient city that was for a while the headquarters of the historically famous Kwararafa 
Confederacy, the university changed its name from Wukari Jubilee to Kwararafa in 
February 2012 to reflect the historical roots of the confederacy which at the zenith of 
its powers extended to modern Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Nasarawa and Benue States…In 
the logo, the spear head “Atoshi” is the traditional weapon of the Jukun people (host 
community of the University). (kwararafa University, Wukari, https://www.kuw.edu.
ng/history.php)
The text above manifests the deployment of branding as differentiation for the purpose of 
creating a remarkable academic identity for the university. The statement “the first community 
promoted university in Nigeria” bears this differentiation in the text. 
Just as it was indicated earlier that even the names of the institutions are used to construct 
professional identities, for specialized institutions (see above) in particular there is also the 
construction of ethnic identity through the name of the university “kwararafa University.” 
“kwararafa” is identified with a multi-ethnic confederacy around the river Benue valley of 
Central Nigeria. Wukari, which later became the rallying point for the Jukun people, who are a 
very strong part of the confederacy. Therefore, through the name, the university identifies itself 
with the Jukun, Wukari and the historical and defunct kwararafa confederacy. The practice of 
deploying historical names for constructing ethnic identities for institutions is not peculiar to 
35SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
this university, as there is also a university in Southwestern Nigeria named oduduwa University 
in order to construct the yoruba ethnic identity. oduduwa is seen in yoruba history as the 
first yoruba person to have ever lived. Therefore, it can be said that apart from promoting 
harmonious existence with the people of the immediate locality, reference to historical values 
by institutions may have been the goal of promoting ethnicism by some universities.
It should also be noted that in order to foster ethnic identities, many public universities are 
named after persons considered to be prominent in the history of the ethnic groups that 
are based where such universities are sited after their deaths. While such persons are mostly 
politicians, the goal is primarily to promote an ethnic identity. Some examples include: 
obafemi awolowo University (named after the former Premier of the Western region), 
ahmadu Bello University (named after the former Premier of the Northern region), Nnamdi 
azikiwe University (named after the former President of Nigeria), abubakar tafawa Balewa 
University (named after the first Prime Minister of the country in the 1st republic), and 
ambrose ali University (named after the former governor of the then Bendel State), among 
many others. ethnic identity was the motivation for the (re)naming of these institutions and 
this resonates well with the different ethnic groups, since they legitimize the action.
5.7 religious Identity
Since the liberalization of higher education and the granting of licenses to religious bodies to 
establish universities, many religious organizations have established universities in the country 
and the projection of religious identities is quite visible on the websites of these universities. 
In spite of the pressure on religious institutions to secularize, religious identity is becoming 
a prominent feature in the profiles of such institutions in Nigeria. By religious identity, we 
mean the use of language and visual element to show affiliations with certain religions or 
promote them. It may not be particularly surprising that religious identity keeps manifesting 
in the profiles of the higher institutions, given the fact that in the Nigerian nation, there is 
generally a wide reference to religion. Below are some examples that illustrate the promotion 
of religious identity in the narratives on the websites of some universities in Nigeria.
(23) The mission of Veritas University is to provide its students with an integral and holistic 
formation that combines academic and professional training with physical, moral, 
spiritual, social and cultural formation together formation of Christian religious principles 
and the social teachings of the Catholic Church… Based on Christian inspiration and 
Christ’s sacrificial witness, the University shall promote authentic human and cultural 
development modeled on the person of Christ. (veritas University abuja, https://www.
veritas.edu.ng/about/mission.php)
In example (23), which is extracted from the self-description of veritas University, one can see 
the explicit construction of a Christian identity for the university by the text producers. This 
construction of Christian identity by the university resonates with roper and Parker’s (2006) 
principle of identification in their branding theory – the university wishes to be recognized 
as a Christian institution. Looking at the data through the prism of fairclough’s (2015) 
analytical layer of textual description, one realizes that  the strategic lexical items used in the 
text for the creation of Christian identity for the higher institution are “spiritual”, “Christian 
36 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
religious principles”, “Christian”, “Catholic”, “church” and “Christ”. once one sees the 
above-mentioned lexical items in the self-portrait of the institution, one immediately discerns 
that it is a Christian school and indeed an institution established by a specific Christian 
denomination: the Catholic Church.
It is interesting to note that through the religious identity constructed in the text, the university 
intentionally tries to appeal to a certain segment of Nigerians, Christians, in order to market 
their institution. furthermore, while a broad Christian identity is constructed in the text, it 
is also discernible that the religious identity is further deepened by identifying the institution 
as a Catholic one through reference to Catholicism as a subset of the Christian religious 
identity. apart from the explicit mention of the Catholic Church in the text, other parts 
of the profile foreground Catholicism through reference to “the Second vatican Council” 
and other expressions such as “Catholic identity of the University”, “Catholic principles and 
attitudes” and “Catholic universities”. This particular Catholic identity constructed for the 
university above its Christian identity indexes roper and Parker’s idea of differentiation in 
their branding theory, which borders on how a brand differentiates itself from other brands. 
a similar religious identity construction is found on the webpage of Madonna University, 
another university owned by the Catholic Church.
(24) Being the first private/Catholic university in Nigeria and a member of the International 
Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), we pride ourselves to be upholders of the great 
Catholic education tradition that birthed modern civilization. (Madonna University, 
okija, https://www.madonnauniversity.edu.ng/page/24/)
The strong Catholic identity constructed in the narrative is seen in the expression “upholders 
of the great Catholic education tradition”. The Catholic Church has been involved in 
education in Nigeria since the pre-colonial days, and over the years they have been known 
for their educational tradition, which cuts across schools at all levels – primary and secondary 
and now university. There is the deployment of branding as differentiation for the purpose 
of creating an academic identity for the institution. Differentiation here is not limited to 
denominationalism, but is also reflected in the prominence of terms such as the exclusive 
claim of “firstness”, which boosts and markets the brand. Differentiation in religious identity 
is also seen in the following extract from Covenant University’s “about us” text. 
(25) Covenant University is a private Pentecostal Christian University, which has been 
operating with official status since 2002 in Ota, Nigeria. Covenant University is one of 
the leading universities in Africa founded on Christian Mission Ethos. It has the vision 
to raise a new generation of leaders and reinstate the black race’s dignity. The University 
is committed to remaining at the cutting-edge of learning based on enlightening the 
Total Man. (Covenant University, ota, https://covenantuniversity.edu.ng/about-us/
overview/about)
Pentecostalism is projected as opposed to other forms of Christian religious practices, and 
the university is described as being founded on “Christian Mission ethos”. This means the 
university has a distinguishing character, moral nature and guiding beliefs which differentiate 
it from others of similar Christian background. Beyond the projection of a Pentecostal 
37SPeCIaL ISSUe artICLeS
identity, this differentiation is also seen in the expression of the university’s mission focus. 
religious identity as a branding technique also manifests in (26), which is part of the profile 
of Usmanu Danfodiyo University.
(26) The University statute established the Centre for Islamic Studies in 1982. Its aim, among 
others, is to promote the study of and research in Islam, its instructions and related 
disciplines and its culture with special reference to the northern states of Nigeria. The 
Centre runs a Diploma programme in Islamic Studies, which started in 1983, to assist 
in the manpower development of the locality and the country at large. The Centre also 
runs certificate courses in Arabic and Islamic Studies. (Usmanu Danfodiyo University, 
Sokoto, http://www.udusok.edu.ng)
It is interesting that in this particular construction of religious identity, the university 
intentionally foregrounded on its website a centre of Islamic studies in cognizance of the 
popularity of the Islamic religion in Sokoto, where it is located. Using roper and Parker’s 
(2006) idea on branding, the presentation of the Centre for Islamic Studies as a very 
important feature of the university can be considered as asset branding. The centre is an 
immediately recognizable phenomenon that embodies and promotes Islam. Therefore, 
Usmanu Danfodiyo University brands itself as a university in the heart of Sokoto, the seat of 
the leadership of Islam in Nigeria. This promotion of Islamic religious identity is particularly 
significant because the institution is a public university owned by the federal government of 
Nigeria. The university authorities however deem it proper to project the popular religious 
faith in its locale and promote a religious identity on the related website. The religious identity 
further shows that even public universities can be sensitive to the religious peculiarities of 
their locations.
6 Conclusion
This study has examined the discursive construction of identity on Nigerian university 
websites and discussed how these constructions further project marketization of their 
brands to stakeholders. Sourcing data from selected public and private university websites in 
different parts of Nigeria, the study critically engaged the websites’ narratives and identified 
the major identity types that are constructed, which are: professional, national, transnational, 
humanist, afrocentric, ethnic and religious identities. The study argues that while many 
Nigerian universities project professional, national and transnational/international values, 
which could be very positive, some others promote humanist and afrocentric identities in 
order to underscore pragmatic social values. Moreover, others project issues of narrow interest, 
which may not necessarily impact scholarship and intellectualism, such as religion and 
ethnicity. for such institutions, religion and ethnicity are essentialized to drive the sentiments 
of their organizations and locales. The significance of this study lies in its understanding 
of the discursive strategies that underly the projection of identities in Nigerian universities’ 
websites. It also offers these perspectives in order to close the apparent gaps in global studies 
on marketization discourses, especially in the area of identity construction. 
38 Mohammed ademilokun, rotimi taiwo Discursive Construction of Higher Education Institutional Academic ...
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