FOR THE RECORD: Waste Of Time, Resources On Useless Diplomas

The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Abubakar Adamu Rasheed addressing the NBTE delegation

It was another apt decision in the education sector when the National Universities Commission (NUC) recently announced that Nigerian universities will soon stop running diploma programmes at the undergraduate level. This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Abubakar Rasheed, while receiving his counterpart, the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr Masaudu Kazaure, in his office in Abuja last week.

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Professor Rasheed accurately re-affirmed that only polytechnics have the statutory mandate to run diploma programmes. He recalled that the federal government had issued a circular in 2000 prohibiting the use of Ordinary Diploma (OD) certificates for employment or promotion of staff in the civil service. Professor Rasheed declared that NUC would instruct universities to stop running diploma programmes, adding that a deadline would soon be set for universities to that effect.

The NBTE, which was established in 1977, is the parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Education specifically created to handle all aspects of technical and vocational education falling outside the borders of university education. Besides providing standardized minimum benchmark for technical and vocational education in the country, NBTE’s core mandate involves the accreditation of all academic programmes, including diploma courses, offered by technical institutions in Nigeria. NBTE, not NUC, is the only government agency in the country statutorily charged with the responsibility of accrediting diploma programmes even when such courses are run by universities. This gives credence to the argument that any diploma programme that exists at the undergraduate level in a university is virtually in the wrong place.
While certificates issued to graduates of diploma programmes that lack recognition and accreditation of the NBTE are called Ordinary Diploma certificates, even where the course is domicile in a polytechnic, those issued to graduates of the same diploma courses that have NBTE’s approval and accreditation are called National Diploma (ND), a distinction that depicts less value for the OD certificate. Most universities that run diploma programmes make little or no effort to have such courses accredited by the NBTE, which explains why they issue OD certificates.  This factor provides the basis for government’s refusal to recognize OD certificates for employment or promotion purposes in the civil service. Aside of these inadequacies, the OD certificate issued at the successful end of a course is useful for admission purpose in the university that offered the course and issued the certificate.

The running of diploma programmes is outside the core mandate of universities in Nigeria. With over 100 federal, state and private polytechnics in the country and dozens of monotechnics, which are many enough to run a wide range of diploma programmes, universities should have no business adding diploma courses to their existing list of academic programmes.

Diploma programmes are specifically designed to provide middle level technical manpower required by manufacturing industries. The shortage of this manpower is identified to be a major constraint to the development of the country. However, universities run diploma programmes essentially to boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base, not exactly to fill the gap created by manpower shortages in the real sector. Hence they have little concern for the utility of the certificates earned by graduates of their diploma programmes. This, in effect, can only be described as a waste of time of the affected students and of the resources of their parents. Indeed, a certificate that is not recognized for employment or promotion in the civil service is not worth acquiring.

While we commend the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Professor Rasheed, for taking from universities that which does not actually belong to them, we urge the authorities at the NBTE to deny accreditation to university diploma programmes, if universities seek the agency’s endorsement to run the illegal programmes. In view of NUC’s position on this matter, universities are advised to henceforth stop further admission of students  into worthless diploma courses.

Universities Have No Business with Diplomas – Professor Rasheed, NUC Executive Secretary

The axe of the National Universities Commission (NUC) is soon to descend on undergraduate Diplomas, being awarded by Universities. The Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed who gave the hint when he received the Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr. Masa’ud Adamu Kazaure in his office on Tuesday, 9 August, 2016 said only Polytechnics were statutorily mandated to run programmes leading to the Award of National Diplomas.

The Executive Secretary recalled that the Federal Government had through a circular issued as far back as the year 2000 prohibited the use of University undergraduate Diplomas for the purpose of either employment or promotion of staff in the Federal Civil Service. In his words, “we are going to formally put a stop to it.

“Sub-degree Diplomas are not the job of universities. Let us allow those that are statutorily allowed to run Diploma programmes, the polytechnics, to continue with them.”

Professor Rasheed expressed the Commission’s readiness to work closely with the NBTE, saying that they are two very important and complimentary agencies. Whereas each of the agencies had its raison d’etre, he said, “When we work together, we achieve more.”

The ES thanked Dr. Kazaure for initiating the conversation on areas of collaboration, such as the contentious issue of the existing dichotomy between a Bachelor’s Degree and a Higher National Diploma (HND), the award of degrees by polytechnics, in affiliation with universities as well as the National Qualifications Framework.

He assured him that NUC would collaborate with the Board to strengthen vocational education in Nigeria and also set up a Committee to develop a blueprint for polytechnics to mount the B. Tech. programmes on their own, as the case is in other countries. The Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, a world renowned Institution he said was a good example of possibilities.

The NUC Scribe explained that the Commission would streamline some of the existing programmes in the NUS to incorporate new trends in line with global best practices, while ensuring universities’ full adherence to its quality assurance mechanisms as well as their carrying capacities and admission quota, based on available facilities and manpower resources.

Earlier in his address, Dr. Kazaure said he was at the Commission to congratulate Professor Rasheed on his well-deserved appointment and to seek collaboration with NUC in the areas stated above to achieve the Board’s Mandate just as he did when he was appointed Executive Secretary of NBTE in 2010.

Dr. Kazaure applauded the recent decision to remove the dichotomy between university degree and theHigher National Diploma (HND) saying the development would allow HND holders that have Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) to be at par with university graduates in the Civil Service.

The NBTE Executive Secretary also told the Executive Secretary that issues bordering on the review of all educations laws were on the front burner during the recently held Roundtable Agenda for Legislative Education with regulatory agencies, including the NUC, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) as well as the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) among others in attendance.

He noted that the NBTE had been working assiduously on the National Vocational Qualifications Framework in the interest of those who did not have the opportunity to attend conventional schools, but had vocational qualifications and could contribute their quota to revamping the nation’s economy.

Dr. Kazaure presented two documents to Professor Rasheed. One was a a compendium of all accredited programmes offered by the Polytechnics in Nigeria, as at January 2016, while the other is update on issues of dichotomy between university’s B.Sc degrees and Polytechnic’s HND.

In a vote of thanks, the Director Executive Secretary’s Office (DESO), Mrs. Constance GoddyNnady remarked that the Committee to be set up by the NUC would work tirelessly to achieve the set goals in the best interest of tertiary education in Nigeria. She thanked the two Executive Secretaries for their foresight and doggedness in addressing the identified issues affecting tertiary education in Nigeria.

Source of 2nd Story: The Chronicle of Education