Concerns Over Universities’ Unaccredited Courses

In 2012, many stakeholders in the education sector expressed worry when academic activities were disrupted in one of the federal universities in the country by protesting students. The protest was however not against increase in tuition or inadequate welfare as commonplace in most Nigerian tertiary institutions.

The undergraduates, comprising those studying medicine, veterinary medicine and engineering, used the protest to express fears about their future following the recommendations of a Special Visitation Panel to their school. One of the key recommendations of the report submitted to the Federal Government then by the panel was that all unapproved programmes run by the affected university should be scrapped.

The students were unlucky to be studying courses which had yet been approved by the National Universities Commission. The NUC which states that its 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,” has continued to wield the big stick against any university taking its students for granted by running unaccredited courses.

Before a university can be granted approval for a course, it must fulfill certain conditions which include having certain number of qualified lecturers, adequate infrastructure to accommodate undergraduate and postgraduates courses including specified number of students that may be admitted.

The Executive Secretary, NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie did not treat the issue lightly as he declared in 2012 that all part-time programmes must be located on campus and satellite campuses suspended as a way of checking the worrisome case.

Okojie stated that henceforth universities must score over 70 per cent in all areas of assessment, including the provision of library facilities before courses presented would be accredited.

He said, “But if your library facilities are poor or sub-standard, even if you score over 70 per cent, you will not be considered fit enough for accreditation.’’

It seemed the issue did not receive the desired attention which prompted the NUC boss to vow last year that the commission would report vice-chancellors of universities running illegal and unaccredited courses to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission for prosecution.

He said, “We (NUC) are amazed about the number of vice-chancellors that visit ICPC every day. All these unapproved courses that some universities are running, the vice-chancellors are in trouble because ICPC and NUC are not going to take it. We have to address the issue– including misapplication of fund for projects.”

Okojie, who described the running of unapproved courses as “academic corruption,” added that the commission had started sensitising universities on what constitutes violation of law with a pilot study taking off in some universities.

He stated, ‘‘There is what we call academic corruption. If you employ students that are not supposed to be in the system, it is corruption. We will provide information on universities running illegal courses to the ICPC.’’

The immediate past Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Enugu State University of Science and Technology branch, Prof. Gabriel Agwu, however urged the commission to improve on its regulatory activities. He said it would be a good thing if the commission could make public the status of courses across universities to know they had attained full or partial accreditation.

Agwu said, ‘‘It is not enough to limit the results to the concerned universities. NUC is for public good and all the results of courses being offered in all the universities should be made public. The public will be aware and anyone who wishes to seek admission in such schools despite warning from the commission will be doing so at his or her own peril. It will be seen that the commission has placed a caveat on them.’’

The don, who noted that the NUC should not allow things to go out of hand before taking concrete decisions, added that employers of labour should also be supplied names of unapproved courses in the affected varsities.

Despite efforts to check the development, some universities continue to feed fat on their students by offering them unaccredited courses. Last year, the NUC was forced to shut some illegal schools raking in good money by offering admission to suspecting candidates.

Since the monster disguising as unapproved courses had refused to be tamed executive secretary of the NUC recently commented that the situation was far from being over.

Okojie, who was represented at the 6th convocation ceremony of the Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, by the commission’s Director of Quality Assurance, Prof. Felix Majiana, said universities running unaccredited courses were only creating problems for their students who had taken the unapproved courses, because they would not be accommodated in the one-year national youth service.

While not mentioning the defaulting varsities, he added “Every year many graduates preparing for the one-year national service are stranded because their institutions offered them courses that were not approved by the NUC.’’

He accused some of the universities of offering unaccredited courses after the commission had carried out its accreditation exercises. According to him, some of the universities admit more than the approved number of students which usually overshoot the number of graduates expected to participate in the National Youths Service Corps.

Similarly, Agwu’s position was supported by an educationist, Dr. Azeez Ademola, who said the NUC should publish names of culpable institutions on its website for the public to know them. He also said the issue should be jointly condemned by the stakeholders in education who genuinely desire a robust stature for the country’s university education.

He further said the commission had also been accused in the past of not being thorough in its accreditation processes. Ademola said, ‘‘The NUC should challenge the universities running unaccredited courses by using their internal mechanism. They all have governing councils. There are illegal institutions offering illegal courses and also legal ones running illegal courses. These two should be addressed wholly.’’

While noting that prospective students should not be blamed for falling victims to varsities running unapproved courses, he noted that the onus lay on them to confirm the accreditation status of their intended courses in any university they were applying to. The NUC on its website has the names of some universities and the status of courses presented for accreditation.

On his part, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Dr. Adisa Ademola, said the Senate of any university could endorse courses once they had been set by the various departments and faculties.

He, however, added that the NUC could monitor the courses as the regulating body.

‘‘There are courses and there are courses. There are some courses that are professional and a university wishing to run them will need the approval of the related professional bodies to accredit them, ’’ he said.(PUNCH)