Skip to main content

ASUU Rejects NUC’s New Curriculum .Says Action Usurps Varsity Senates' Powers


The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) prepared by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

A statement by the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, on Friday, June 30, also described the curriculum as a threat to quality university education, and an erosion of powers of the university Senate in Nigerian universities.

According to ASUU, it was inexplicable that NUC pre-packaged 70percent CCMAS contents were being imposed on the Nigerian university system.

It also observed that the university Senates, who are statutorily responsible for academic programme development, were left to work on only 30percent.

The ASUU stressed the growing concerns about the numerous shortcomings and gross inadequacies of the CCMAS documents.

“ASUU is not unaware that setmoneyting academic standards and assuring quality in the NUS is within the remit of the NUC.

“Section 10(1) of the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, Cap E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, enjoins the NUC to lay down the minimum standards for all universities and other degree awarding institutions in the Federation and conduct the accreditation of their degrees and other academic awards.

“However, the process of generating the standard is as important (if not more important) than what is produced as 'minimum standards'.

“In this instance, the NUC has recently, through some hazy procedures, churned out CCMAS documents containing 70percent curricular contents in 17 academic fields with little or no input from the universities.

“The academic disciplines covered are (i) Administration and Management, (ii) Agriculture, (iii) Allied Health Sciences, (iv) Architecture, (v) Arts, (vi) Basic Medical Sciences, (vii) Computing, (viii) Communication and Media Studies, (ix) Education, (x) Engineering and Technology, (xi) Environmental Sciences, (xii) Law, (xiii) Medicine and Dentistry, (xiv) Pharmaceutical Science, (xv) Sciences, (xvi) Social Sciences, and (xvii) Veterinary Medicine,” the statement reads.

ASUU stressed that although some university Senates did not hide their displeasure with the ongoing efforts to impose CCMAS on Nigerian universities by the NUC, many university administrators, though dissatisfied, were shying away from making public comments on CCMAS.

“The CCMAS is a nightmarish model of curriculum reengineering. It is an aberration to the Nigerian University System. The CCMAS documents are flawed both in process and in content. There is no basis for the 70percent 'untouchable CCMAS', which cannot stand the test of critical scrutiny of university Senates."

ASUU suggested that “NUC should encourage universities, as currently being done by the University of Ibadan, to propose innovations for the review of their programmes.

“Proposals from across universities should then be sieved and synthesised by more competent expert teams to review the existing BMAS documents and/or create new ones as appropriate.

“The difference here is the bottom-up approach, unlike the top-bottom or take-it-or-leave-it model of the CCMAS,” the statement further reads.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ogoni Day: Group Demands Saro-Wiwa, Eight Others' Exoneration, Compensation .Urges Probe Of Wike Over Alleged Diversion Of $300m OML 11 Payment

As the Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State marked the 31st Anniversary of the Ogoni Day, the Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI), has reiterated the call on the Federal Government to exonerate late environment-rights activist, Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogonis murdered during the late General Sani Abacha military junta in 1995. The group also called for compensation to Ogoni and families of the four Ogoni chiefs whose death led to the arrest and subsequent execution of Saro-Wiwa and eight others. OLI said it came up with the referendum after consultation with critical stakeholders within and outside Ogoni land and over 200 rights groups. Chief Executive Officer of Ogoni Liberation Initiative, Dr Douglas Fabeke, while reading an 8-point referendum to mark this year's Ogoni Day also demanded the immediate dissolution of the board of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), over alleged  gross mismanagement of funds and incompetence. OLI said Ogoni peopl
Post a Comment
Read more

Our Decisions Not Borne Out Of Fear, But For Peace Of Rivers, Fubara Insists .Says He Won't Involve In Dirty Political Fights

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has declared that the decisions taken by his administration in the evolving political crisis in the state were not borne out of fear, but for peace to reign in the state. The governor made this known while addressing Rivers people at the maiden state banquet held by his administration at Government House, Port Harcourt on Monday to celebrate the New Year. The governor's position was revealed in a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor of Rivers State, Boniface Onyedi, on Tuesday. Fubara, who wished Rivers people a fruitful and prosperous 2024, also appealed to Rivers people to embrace the ongoing peace process at the instance of President Bola Amhed Tinubu. He stated that his administration would not be enmeshed in any dirty political war that would hinder the prospects of development in the state. "Every decision that we've taken is not borne out of fear but because we have the interest of ou
Post a Comment
Read more

2024 Budget: You Want To Strangle Nigerians, PDP Slams Tinubu

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described President Bola Tinubu’s proposed N27.5trillion budget for the 2024 fiscal year as hopeless and a huge disservice. PDP said if the proposed budget is passed, it will further asphyxiate Nigerians and plunge the nation into more economic depression and hopelessness. A statement signed by PDP’s spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, said: “It is clear that the 2024 budget as proposed with its heavy provisions for the luxury appetite of the Presidency and All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders, which is predicated and expected to be funded from multilateral and bilateral foreign loans and increased taxes on Nigerians, is designed to further mortgage our nation and strangulate the already impoverished Nigerians. “The budget framework with respect to recurrent expenditure vote of N9.9trillion, capital expenditure vote of N8.7trillion, and N8.25trillion for debt services is unsustainable and unrealisable in view of the stated outstanding debt and proposed
Post a Comment
Read more