The National Universities Commission (NUC) has reviewed the
Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards, BMAS, for universities, revising it to
Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards, CCMAS.
The reform will soon be unveiled to the public, the
regulatory body revealed on Thursday.
The implication is that the CCMAS will provide 70 per cent
of what should be taught along with the expected outcomes, while the
universities will provide 30 per cent based on their individual contextual
peculiarities and characteristics.
Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, stated
this on Thursday at the presentation of licenses to 12 new private universities
recently approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC.
According to Rasheed, the radical re-engineering of
curricula in Nigerian universities carried by NUC is to meet global standards
and international best practices towards preparing Nigerian graduates for
relevance in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 4IR, world economy with the
skills needed for the future.
He noted that despite having over 200 universities in the
country, and a little over three million enrolments, they are still grossly
inadequate due to the high demand for university education in the country.
The NUC boss charged proprietors of the new universities to
ensure that quality is not compromised at the expense of maximisation of
profit, adding that NUC will not hesitate to sanction institutions that violate
its operational guidelines.
“Even with over 200 universities, access to university
education remains a challenge in the education sector in Nigeria due to the
high demand for degrees from an increasing number of secondary school graduates
and even graduates of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
“Records show that the number of applications for university
admissions for the 2020 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) was 1, 415,501 out of which only
527,929 representing 37.2% gained admission to universities in Nigeria.
“Nigeria is still grossly deficient in access to the
university education sub-sector, which is the highest producer of the skilled
level manpower required to activate and sustain the socio-economic transformation
of the country,” he said.
He applauded proprietors of the private universities
licensed at the occasion, for the initiative of establishing universities
despite the huge resource implication of establishing a private university in
Nigeria.
“The role you play in bridging the gap created by the
growing demand for university education in the country by your investment is
not, and can never be taken for granted.
“I would like to therefore congratulate the Proprietors of
the twelve newly approved private universities and assure them of the National
Universities Commission’s unrelenting support and cooperation.
“I enjoin you to acquaint yourselves with the code of
governance for private universities in Nigeria which aims to enhance the
successful running and sustainability of institutions. It has been further
reviewed to give some latitude to the Proprietors on the issue of appointment
of Principal Officers,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu
Adamu, said 12 new universities bring the number of private universities to 111
and the total number of universities in the country to 215.
Adamu said the licenses were approved by the Federal
Executive Council on April 6 for the widening of access to university education
in the country.
The minister noted that government recognises the place of
education in bolstering the economic fortunes of the country and therefore
welcomes private sector investment in the university subsector.
According to him, the need for the establishment of more
universities in Nigeria has never been more compelling as Nigeria, with a
population of 200 million, has only 111 private universities and 215
universities in total.
The 12 newly-licensed universities include Pen Resource
University, Gombe, Gombe State; Al-Ansar University Maiduguri, Borno State;
Proposed Margaret Lawrence University, Galilee, Delta State, and Khalifa
Isiyaku Rabiu University, Kano, Kano State.
Others are Sports University, Idumuje, Ugboko, Delta State;
Baba Ahmed University, Kano, Kano State; Saisa University of Medical Sciences
and Technology, Sokoto, Sokoto State; Nigerian British University, Asa, Abia
State; Peter University, Achina/Onneh, Anambra State. Proposed Newgate
University, Minna, Niger State; European University of Nigeria, Duboyi, Abuja,
FCT and Northwest University, Sokoto, Sokoto State.
In his remarks, a former Executive Secretary of the NUC,
Prof Julius Okojie, stressed the need to encourage the establishment and
operation of private universities to ensure quality university education.
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