The National Universities Commission (NUC) has affirmed its position on the design of its recent Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), by saying that the Professors involved were members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
NUC in reaction to ASUU’s criticism and rejection of the CCMAS for several reasons including alleged loss of university autonomy, noted that from 1989 to date, the commission has always engaged subject area experts from across Nigerian Universities to be involved in the development and review of the curriculum in the Nigeria University System (NUS) with the NUC coordinating the process.
A statement signed by NUC’s Deputy Executive Secretary (Academics), Dr Noel Saliu maintained that two Acts of the enabling Law under which the NUC operates provide the legal framework for the quality assurance and regulatory mandates of the Commission.
“That assertion that there was no official communication from NUC to the Universities on the review of the BMAS is not correct. Vice-Chancellors can attest to the fact that the Commission has been communicating with them on the issue over the last five years.
“In addition, several virtual and on-site meetings were held to intimate them of the curriculum review and provide them with updates from time to time (Recordings of these meetings are available)
“The claim that there is no evidence to show that the Universities were involved in the true sense of revision of the BMAS development and the subsequent implementation of the CCMAS in the NUS is also far from the truth.
“The curriculum review process started in 2018 with the subject area experts in Nigerian Universities producing draft documents, which were forwarded to experts in other Nigerian Universities for their comments.”
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Meanwhile, the former NUC Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Rasheed on Friday handed over voluntarily to Deputy Executive Secretary Administration, NUC Chris Maiyaki, as Acting Executive Secretary NUC pending the appointment of a substantive Executive Secretary.
PIAK
