Vice-chancellors decry low carrying capacity for medical education in universities

THE Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) has disclosed that it is partnering with some universities in Egypt to initiate medical mobility exchange programmes to address the problem of low carrying capacity of medical education studies in Nigerian universities.

CVCNU Secretary-General, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu said this in Abuja while speaking with journalists on the partnership of the committee with the Association of African Universities and specifically with universities in Egypt.

According to Prof. Ochefu, the overall carrying capacity for medical education in Nigerian universities is less than 8 per cent of demand.

He disclosed that in 2019, over 436,799 candidates applied to study medicine in Nigerian universities with only 30,111 spaces available, adding that this represents 7.95percent of available capacities.

“At the level of National Universities Commission, JAMB and the Nigerian and Medical Council of Nigeria and at the level of individual universities specifically vice-chancellors are all worried about this development which may become a crisis, this issue is very alarming and the Committee of Vice-Chancellors have decided to do something about it.”

The CVCNU Sec-Gen described this situation as a real crisis adding that it necessitated the partnership with the universities in Egypt and the use of a road map on medical mobility exchange programmes provided by the AAU.

“So part of what we are doing is working with the AAU through their North Africa Regional office and in partnership with the government of Egypt to initiate medical mobility exchange programme between Egyptian universities and Nigerian universities, as you may well know the Egyptians have helped set up several medical schools in Nigeria such as in Maiduguri, Kano, Sokoto in the past, what we are now trying to do is to extend that relationship to as many universities as possible.”

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“We are working with them for exchange of staff, training of staff, exchange of learning materials and exchange of postgraduate students in medical studies, we believe that with the help of the Egyptians we should be able to reduce this dreadful figures that we have substantially in the next 5years” Prof. Yakubu added.

Speaking on the need to domesticate Intellectual property in the Nigerian University System, Ochefu stated that the Committee had worked with the Nigerian Copy Right Commission to develop an intellectual property model and intellectual property policy that will guide its use in the universities in Nigeria.

“When we had our baseline study, we discovered that as at 2019 less that 10percent of universities in Nigeria have policies on intellectual property that have been domesticated by their various university senate, the few who had did not even domesticate it at the world intellectual property portal which is where everybody checks to confirm intellectual property, CVCNU then work with CopyRight Commission to say we need help to so we did put a team together to develop intellectual property model on intellectual property policy that we can share with our members after which we will share with our members and they will be able to domesticate the policy and also take their work to to the world intellectual property portal”