Universities Given Approval To Decide 30% Of Curriculum Content

The Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) for universities has been reviewed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and a revision has been made, leading to it becoming the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS).

The development was disclosed by the regulatory body on Thursday and it implies that CCMAS will provide 70 percent of what should be taught along with the expected outcomes, while the universities will provide 30 percent based on their individual contextual peculiarities and characteristics.

Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, the Executive Secretary of NUC, made the revelation at the presentation of licenses to 12 new private universities recently approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

Rasheed stated that the radical re-engineering of curricula in Nigerian universities carried by NUC is aimed at meeting the 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 said that even though there are 200 universities in Nigeria, with a little more than three million enrolments, the institutions are still grossly inadequate as a result of the high demand for university education in the country.

The scholar urged proprietors of new universities to make sure quality is not compromised at the expense of maximisation of profit.

Rasheed added that NUC would 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.

"... 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.