Why professional bodies need to work with us on varsity admission quotas — NUC

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has faulted professional bodies such as the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Council of Legal Education (CLE), Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), among others, in giving students’ admission quotas to universities without its input,

The nation’s university regulatory agency clarified that the issue of accreditation of programmes and allocation of quotas for Nigerian universities for students to study any course is within its purview, and not the responsibility of professional bodies.

The Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Abdullahi Ribadu, made this clarification at the July edition of the monthly dialogue organised by the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN) with the theme “Over- Admission\ Quota Crisis: What Faith Awaits UNICAL Dental Students.”

Currently, no fewer than 300 dental students of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) are facing a crisis after spending more than six years in the university following the institution’s alleged disregard for the MDCN admission quota.

The university was alleged to be admitting up to 90 students annually, far exceeding the 10-student limit approved under the provisional accreditation granted by the professional body.

But the NUC boss, represented at EWAN’s virtual dialogue by the Deputy Director in charge of Academic Planning and Head of Resources and Strategic Planning of the agency, Dr. Nte Bisong, pointed out that UNICAL did not breach any regulatory provision to warrant the treatment meted on it by MDCN.

According to him, “Professional bodies do not establish any academic programmes in Nigerian universities, and you cannot give that which you do not have, or own.

“It is NUC that has the full mandate of the law to establish academic programmes in the country. But to say now that the commission will establish a programme, and MDCN will now come to approve the quota, is not ideal. “There cannot be two bodies granting admission quota in the same system,” he stressed.

Prof Ribadu observed that what professional bodies should be doing is to wait till the students are set to practice their various professions before their competence is tested, and not by imposing restrictions on the institutions for admitting them.

He added that NUC accredits programmes and gives admission quotas based on the carrying capacity of each university and these are centred mostly on both human and material resources on the ground.

But while acknowledging the role of professional bodies in higher education in the country, he said it is important that they (professional bodies) work closely with NUC by carrying the agency along in their activities within the university system.

According to him, on this issue of UNICAL, for example, NUC was not aware that MDCN was going there. If they had informed NUC that they were visiting UNICAL, it would have sat with them, discussed, and then guided them, because I am sure we have more of the wherewithal to handle universities than MDCN. We know the universities better; it’s our terrain.

“So, we can provide them with better information if they carry us along.

“That is why I said MDCN is the one to work with the NUC, not NUC working for MDCN.”

Professor Ribadu, however, explained that the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has already waded into the UNICAL crisis with the aim of resolving it and also guiding against recurrence in the future or any other Nigerian universities.

According to him, the minister had, in May, issued a circular, directing the stoppage of multiple accreditations in Nigerian universities.

“Buy that, it means no professional body should go to any university without the NUC being carried along.

“So, we hope that the issue of UNICAL students would be resolved soon,” he asserted.

While asking about the proliferation of universities in the country, Prof Ribadu said even though it is the Federal Executive Council (FEC) chaired by the country’s President that gives approval for the establishment of universities, either public or private and not NUC, the purpose is to expand access to university education, though without compromising standards.

In his welcome remark, the Chairman of EWAN, Mr. Mojeed Alabi, expressed dissatisfaction about the uncertainly faced by the UNICAL dental students, who admission was declared illegal after spending about six years.

He noted that all the concerned authorities in the matter, including the Director of University Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Rakiya Iliyasu; MDCN Registrar, Fatimah Kyari, and the UNICAL Vice-Chancellor, Professor Florence Obi, among others, were invited, but that “they did not show up, and without providing any excuse.”

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