THE secretary-general, Association of African Universities (AAU), Professor Olusola Oyewole, has described the new Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), developed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) as a revolution which has come to rebrand the university system in Nigeria and indeed Africa.
Oyewole, while taking a critical look at the new CCMAS at a programme in Abuja, stressed that the curriculum in use during the colonial era was designed to meet the man-power needs and recruitment by the colonial masters into public service.
He noted that this is no longer the focus of the 21st century students as the demands of the present-day labour market take into consideration the global development of a new hi-tech and revolutionary market that has given rise to new methods of doing business; hence the need for a new curriculum to train 21st century students who can compete globally.
He said: “The revolution that is evolving coupled with the present day knowledge is flexible and that means that students should be able to learn, re-learn and unlearn.”
He called for the decolonisation of the African curricula, a task he noted that the NUC had taken head on over the years from ‘Minimum Requirements’ to ‘Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards’ (BMAS) and now to a revolutionised CCMAS.
Professor Oyewole stated that the new CCMAS would among other things, change the system from being teacher-centred to being learner-centred as teachers would teach pre-identified learning outcomes, while flexible learning would be promoted; life-long learning would be encouraged; and learners would be able to acquire and demonstrate some essential employability skills.
For adequate implementation of the CCMAS, the secretary-general called for an improved welfare for academics, adding that with better welfare system in place, academics that stand at the core of delivering the new CCMAS would be able to effectively deliver the new curriculum as required of them.
The NUC executive secretary, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, on his part, assured the general public that the commission would continue to do its best to ensure robust reforms as it concerns the CCMAS, revealing that it would be implemented fully from the 2023/2024 academic session beginning with the year one students.
He acknowledged the efforts of the immediate past Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, not only in ensuring the success of CCMAS, but his immense contributions to the development of the Nigeria University System (NUS).
Rasheed disclosed that with the intervention of Adamu, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the establishment of more Federal Universities of Agriculture and Medical Sciences, one in each geo-political zone of the country, saying that 37 private universities had also received FEC approval raising the number of private universities in the country from 111 to 148.
Professor Rasheed who described Adamu Adamu as one of the longest serving ministers in the country since the return to democratic rule in 1999, stated that since assumption of duty in 2015, the former minister had facolitated the establishment of about 80 percent of the universities in Nigeria.
While harping on the need for a training programme for the university staff on CCMAS, the NUC boss charged the participants to ensure active participation as they were key drivers of the CCMAS especially in ensuring its full implementation.
Adamu, who was honoured at the event, congratulated the leadership of the NUC for taking the bold step to develop a fit-for-purpose and globally competitive curriculum for 17 disciplines in the Nigerian Universities System (NUS), with emphasis on the 21st Century employability skills and entrepreneurship.
He reminded stakeholders that the 70 per cent of core courses in the curriculum had been provided by the commission, while the universities had been given the opportunity to innovate, input their peculiarities and uniqueness into the remaining 30 percent as provided.
The former minister stressed that the implementation of the CCMAS required dedication, hard work and willingness to embrace change by everyone, adding that there was an urgent need to invest in training academics with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively implement the CCMAS.
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