Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have reacted with a mixture of surprises to the National Universities Commission recent suspension of accreditation for six of the courses offered in the institution.
The NUC, according to a report by The Cable, had suspended the university’s Law, Dentistry, Botany, Fine and Applied Arts, Family Nutrition and Consumer Science programmes.
Initially, Medical Rehabilitation was listed among the courses, but investigation showed that it was not really affected by the commission’s decision.
Some of the students of the institution whose courses were affected by the development, in separate telephone interviews with our correspondent, said they thought the suspension was just a “joke” from the NUC. One of them, a 300 level law student, Badrudeen Olawale, wondered how the commission arrived at the decision not to accredit OAU’s law for the 2018/2019 academic session.
He said, “The suspension has been a big surprise to us. Many of us still find it difficult to believe that the NUC could do this to Obafemi Awolowo University. I can tell you that the Faculty of Law here is one of the best in the country in terms of structure, facilities and academic prowess. What else does the commission want the faculty to provide?
NUC grants Elizade varsity full licence
The National Universities Commission has granted Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State Full Operational (Statutory) Licence to operate as a private university in the country.
The issuance of the full operational licence to the University followed the institution’s outstanding performance during the commission’s Institutional Accreditation visit to the University.
It will be recalled that the Federal Executive Council at its meeting of Wednesday, 22nd February, 2012, considered and approved a Provisional Licence for the establishment the University. The FEC approval was later conveyed to the university by the commission in a letter dated, 28th February, 2012.
Private universities are blazing the trail through Redeemer’s University
The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed has commended Redeemer’s University for its exploits in safeguarding the health of the nation through its African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases. Professor Abubakar Rasheed made this remark during a facility visit to the University recently.
He explained that he had intended to create time since he assumed office to visit some standard bearers among universities in Nigeria in order to see how they are performing but due to his busy schedule he could not come until God’s appointed time.
The NUC scribe said that the private universities are blazing the trail through Redeemer’s University, Ede and African University of Science and Technology, Abuja who stood out among others through their excellent proposal presentations during the rigorous selection process that led to their emergence as the only two private universities including eight others African Centre of Excellence projects.
He lauded the University for having the best performing centre of excellence among its peers in sub-Sahara-Africa, adding that NUC is proud of the feats achieved by ACEGID.
He congratulated the Centre Director and his team at the Redeemer’s University African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Professor Christian Happi, for his very logical presentation during his facility visit.
Federal cabinet approves 6 new private universities
The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved six new private universities.
They are Admiralty Univerity, Ibusa, Delta State; Spiritan University, Nneochi, Abia State; Precious Cornerstone University, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Others are Pamo University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Atiba University, Oyo State; and Eko University of Medical and Health Sciences Lagos.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, told journalists after the FEC meeting, that more requests for private universities’ approval were underway.
He said the Nigerian Universities Commission would take the issue of accreditation very seriously “and if any university fails to meet their standard, we are going to deregister their courses and if enough courses are deregistered, it will lead to the closure of the university.”
Source : Dailytrust
Education Quality: The hard choices we cannot sidestep – Okebukola
Former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Chairman of Council, Crawford University and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Caleb University, Professor Peter Okebukola has thrown his weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari on the need for quality teachers, adding that to reconstruct the shattered education mirror, there are hard choices we cannot sidestep.
Okebukola, while delivering convocation lecture on Reconstructing the Shattered Education Mirror: Hard Choices We Cannot Sidestep at the McPherson University said: ‘’Between 1965 and 1970, Nigeria contributed the highest in Africa to the international literature in science, engineering, medicine, social sciences and arts.’’ He posited that two major factors conspired to trigger off what is now regarded as the tipping point for poor quality. The first, he noted was the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which brought in its wake, the devaluation of the naira, adding: “More or less overnight, the money available to educational institutions especially universities depreciated by about 200%.”
Source : Vanguard