Unemployable graduates: we are reviewing varsity curriculum ― NUC

THE Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed has revealed that the Nigerian university curriculum is currently under review to improve the quality of the system and make graduates globally competitive.

He spoke at the 7th convocation ceremony of Veritas University, Bwari, Abuja on Saturday, where over 141 students were graduated.

Rasheed who was represented by a Director in his Office, Mr Chris Maiyaki, said the government was concerned about the complaint by industry employers that graduates of the university were unemployable.

He noted that a committee headed by a former Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Peter Okebukola, is helping the Commission on the curriculum and ongoing efforts to reposition the nation’s university system.

Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Hyacinth Ichoku, in his speech disclosed that 10 graduands bagged first class while 46 were awarded second class upper division.

He added that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), has been subsidizing the tuition fees payable by each student of the institution to the tune of N1.2 million every academic session.

He explained that out of the 141 graduating students, 109 are undergraduate while 32 are postgraduates.

He said the decision of the Bishops’ Conference to subsidize tuition fees of students was to encourage parents and guardians to enrol their children in the institution dedicated to the provision of quality education, character formation and moral rectitude of students.

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Archbishop of Benin City, Most Rev. Augustine Akubeze, is the current President of CBCN and Visitor to the University.

He said the University has zero-tolerance to sexual harassment, cultism, examination malpractice and other social vices that permeate the fabric of the society in Nigeria.

He said the University with the current student population of 2,000, was established by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria in 2007 in Abia State but moved to Abuja permanent site in 2014.

He added that the University has five colleges with about 31 programmes in different departments and 18 postgraduate programmes, all accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

The Vice-Chancellor said that the Faculty of Law would be established in September this year in line with the ongoing expansion efforts of the University, adding that 12 other programmes, including Faculty of Medicine and Theology, would be introduced between 2019 and 2020.

He said: “This is one of the most affordable private universities you can find in Nigeria. The school fees is low.

“This is because the Bishops who are promoters of the university have said that quality education should also be made available not only to rich but also to the poor in the society. A lot of the students are on scholarship.

“The school fees is N500,000. This includes tuition, hostel accommodation and every other thing except food that we do no give free. When you compare this to our counterpart in Abuja, some are charging N2 million and 3 three million and above.

“Let me also add that at the last count, we have discovered that the Bishops were subsidizing these students fees with about N1.2 million.