The lingering problem of unaccredited courses in Nigerian universities is once again on the front burner as the admission process for the next academic year kicks off in many of the nation’s universities. Many of these institutions apparently take advantage of the desperation of applicants to admit them for unaccredited courses.
This is a major cause for concern. Why would our Ivory Towers be involved in conducting Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and even admitting students for unaccredited courses? How is this action different from obtaining money under false pretences? Is admission of students for unaccredited course for pecuniary reasons not sheer insensitivity and opportunism? Is this unfortunate practice just about driving Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in our tertiary institutions or are the varsities taking advantage of the fact that the NUC does not strictly bar them from this unethical practice?
We cannot help but wonder how the erring universities get past the NUC whose mission and vision is “to be a dynamic regulatory agency acting as a catalyst for positive change and innovation for the delivery of quality university education in Nigeria.” If one of the goals of the NUC is “to work with Nigerian Universities to achieve full accreditation status for at least 80% of the academic programmes”, why do we have universities advertising unaccredited courses 10 years after some of those departments were established? If one of the statutory functions of the NUC is to ‘“to lay down Minimum Academic Standards in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to accredit their degrees and other academic awards,” why does it have to wait until four years into a university programme before pronouncing its lack of accreditation?” If minimum academic standards are not being met in certain courses, why does the regulatory agency allow the faculties and departments to continue to run such programmes?
Thousands of young Nigerians trust the Nigerian education system with their future, every year. That is why they troop out to write university entrance examinations. It is the same reason parents, even indigent ones, save towards this annual expense. As a country where paper qualification is still deified, getting a university degree is seen as the key to a better life and a bright future. It is, therefore, a massive betrayal of trust for any university to sell forms for unaccredited courses. The cases of medical and law students of some universities who had to spend so many years in school over accreditation problems of their courses, and those who had to be considered for posting to other universities for make-up courses at the end of their “programmes”, is very unfortunate. It is both illegal and immoral to conduct Post-UTME tests or admit students for unaccredited courses. It is hardly different from advance fee fraud or obtaining money under false pretences. Universities which advertise and admit students for such courses are guilty of an offence in law and should forthwith be sanctioned.
It is mean to lead unsuspecting, innocent young Nigerians on an academic wild goose chase. A number of universities in the country have been found to be admitting students into colleges of medicine that are unaccredited by the NUC. The students are made to go through the rigour of studying to become medical doctors only for their dreams to come to nothing when such courses are shut down midway. Some of these young boys and girls never recover from the shock and disorientation such disruptions bring to their life ambitions.
We charge the NUC to wake up to its responsibilities and discharge its statutory functions in this regard. The commission must keep a closer watch on universities to ensure that they do not lose sight of the need to maintain high standards for their courses. The Commission’s accreditation process must be transparent and painstaking. We strongly advocate that the commission publish the list of accredited courses in every university on its website every year. Such courses could also be published in newspapers or booklets that students would be encouraged to check before filling their UTME forms. That way, no student would fall into the trap of gaining admission for unaccredited courses. The Commission should also sanction universities found culpable before handing them over to anti-corruption agencies.
Parents, guardians, teachers and schools should also be more vigilant when guiding their children and wards on the choice of universities and academic programmes.
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