Administrative-to-Academic Career Transitions in Nigerian Higher Education: Identity Reconstruction, Transferable Skills, and Self-Efficacy

Background: Despite increasing staff shortages in African higher education institutions, little empirical attention has been paid to the experiences of non-teaching staff who transition into academic careers.   Objective: This qualitative study explored the identity shift, asset transfer, and self efficacy of non‑teaching administrative staff who transitioned into academic teaching roles. Objective: Three research questions guided the study: personal and professional drivers of the transition, the influence of prior administrative roles on skills and readiness, and the role of self‑confidence, writing ability and interpersonal relationships in facilitating a smoother transition. The study adopted an interpretive phenomenological design and employed snowball and purposive sampling techniques. Semi‑structured interviews were conducted with 23 staff who had converted from administrative roles to academic cadre with the instrument tagged: Career Transition Interview Schedule for Non Teaching Staff (CTIS-NTS). Participants were purposively selected from The Polytechnic Ibadan and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Results: The thematic analysis revealed that career aspiration, exposure to opportunities, knowledge contribution desire, and personal growth drove the transition to academic cadre in higher institutions Conclusion: Prior managerial, office management, safety/security, and secretarial roles contributed transferable assets, including organisational efficiency, moral enforcement, and report‑writing skills. These assets enhanced self-confidence, writing ability, and positive interpersonal relationships, which eased classroom authority and professional adjustment. Unique Contribution: This study introduces administrative-to-academic transition as an underexplored talent channel, evidencing how transferable administrative capital strengthens academic identity and self efficacy. Key Recommendation: The study recommends that universities should establish Recognition of Prior Administrative Learning (RPAL) programmes, integrate values based professional development pathways, and mandate confidence assessment and relational capital mapping within national education frameworks to convert hidden treasure found in the non teaching to academic excellence.