NUC scraps sub-degree diploma programmes at universities

The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) says it has scrapped the sub-degree diploma programmes in the Nigerian university system.

The commission said it arrived at the decision after a meeting with Abubakar Rasheed, executive secretary and vice chancellors of federal, state and private universities in the country.

The meeting held from October 10 to 12.

“The executive secretary told the meeting that running sub-degree diplomas was not the business of universities, but that of polytechnics, more so when the federal government, as far back as November 2001, had issued a circular stating that such diplomas could not be used for employment or promotion purposes in the Public Service,” NUC said in a statement.

“Rather than stretch their facilities to run sub-degree programmes, the universities should direct their energies towards their primary function of producing high-level manpower for the economy, by strengthening their part-time programmes, in addition to offering high-quality undergraduate degrees as well as postgraduate diplomas and degrees.

“Other decisions taken include the revamping of Institutional Accreditation, commencement of accreditation of part-time programmes and resumption of the Nigerian University System Annual Review Meeting (USARM).

“The issues of accreditation of academic programmes by professional bodies, shortfalls in personnel emoluments and incorporation of universities into the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information Systems (IPPIS) and matters arising from the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) were also extensively discussed.

“So was the issue of governance structure as well as the university education component of the Ministerial Action Plan.

“All the universities were charged to develop and implement an Institutional Research Policy; and, as a matter of urgency, establish a Research Administration Directorate, to be headed by an academic, not below the rank of a professor; with appropriate human and material resources to run an Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer (OIPTT) or Office of Technology Commercialisation and Industry Relations (OTCIR).”

The NUC said its research directorate was being strengthened to work with universities and coordinate to ensure the desired relevance in their outputs.

To guarantee continuous quality improvement, the universities were directed to strengthen their internal quality assurance mechanisms by establishing a Directorate of Quality Assurance as a stand alone, or in the alternative, ensure a strong Quality Assurance Unit in the Directorate of Academic Planning. This is to be headed by an academic, who must also be a member of senate.

NUC called for a “complete change of orientation, saying a university that internalises quality would make the Commission’s work easier because it would cover issues such as guidelines for the appointment and promotion of staff, research policy, applying for grants and judicious use of the same, the role of senate in curricular development, admission of students, how teaching and learning take place, administration of examinations, appointment of external examiners, university ceremonies, etc”.

“In view of the increasing cost of Ph.D training abroad and the need for Nigerian universities to continue to develop their staff and produce more Ph.Ds for the economy, NUC encouraged all Nigerian Universities to identify their areas of strength/comparative advantage and collaborate among themselves to mount joint Ph.D programmes,” it said.

“Following the recent development of the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) for Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering, a collaboration between NUC and the Kwara State University, Malete; the Executive Secretary said the Commission would soon conclude work on the BMAS for the Bachelors degree in software engineering, cyber security, agriculture extension service, medical physics, information technology and management information system, among others.”

The NUC said a comprehensive review of the BMAS and ranking of Nigerian universities would be done in 2017.