Tunji Wusu –
The Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards created by the National Universities Commission have been rejected by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The union described it as nightmare-like, a threat to the standard of higher education, and a diminution of the authority of the university senate at universities in Nigeria.
According to a statement released on Friday and signed by Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, national president of ASUU, it was absurd that the Nigerian University System was being forced to adopt prepackaged CCMAS content comprising 70% of its total content, while university Senates—who are formally in charge of developing academic programs—were only given 30% to work with.
It emphasized that there were rising concerns regarding the CCMAS documents’ major flaws and obvious weaknesses.
“ASUU is aware that the NUC is responsible for establishing academic standards and ensuring quality at the NUS. The Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, Cap. E3, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004, mandates that the NUC establish the minimum requirements for all universities and other institutions that grant degrees in the Federation and oversee the accreditation of those institutions’ degrees and other academic awards.
However, the creation of the standard itself is just as significant, if not more so, than the “minimum standards” that are created.
“In this case, the NUC has just produced CCMAS documents that contain 70% of the curriculum in 17 academic categories through unclear procedures with little to no participation 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,” it read partly.
It emphasized that despite their dissatisfaction, many university administrators were holding back on publicly criticizing CCMAS.
However, the statement showed that certain university Senates were open about their discontent with the NUC’s continuous attempts to impose CCMAS on Nigerian universities.
“The CCMAS is a nightmare model of curriculum reengineering,” it declared. The Nigerian university system has a deviation because of it. Both in terms of method and content, the CCMAS documents have issues. The 70% “untouchable CCMAS,” which cannot withstand the test of critical examination by university Senates, has no validity.
However, it was recommended that “NUC should support institutions in their efforts to propose innovations for the review of their programs, as is already being done by the University of Ibadan. Then, by more qualified expert teams, proposals from various institutions should be sorted and synthesized in order to examine the current BMAS documents and/or produce new ones as necessary.
The bottom-up methodology used here, as opposed to the top-bottom or take-it-or-leave-it model used by the CCMAS, makes a difference.
