The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and the National Universities Commission, NUC, have been trading words over the latter’s introduction of a new Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards, CCMAS.
In a statement, ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodike, described NUC’s action as an “aberration to the Nigerian University System”, noting that NUC should accept proposed innovations from the universities, “instead of the top-to-bottom model used for the CCMAS.”
ASUU argues that many important components of university academic programmes were completely phased out in the new 70% CCMAS and that the 30% “local content” is insufficient to remedy the lacunae in the system.
ASUU says, for example, that there are no Chemistry courses for students of B.Sc. Physics. Apart from Departmental and General Studies (GES/GST) courses, the 70% CCMAS has left out all other Faculty or University courses like Engineering, Mathematics for Engineering students, Statistics for Science students, and Philosophy and Sociology of Education courses for Education students.
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Furthermore, ASUU notes that the unbundling of Mass Communication or Communication Studies would give products of the programme narrow specializations, adding that the “specialization” idea in the CCMAS was poorly conceived, making multi-disciplinary understanding impossible in this age of interconnectedness.
In 2022, NUC said it had already developed the CCMAS, to replace the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards, or BMAS, which had been in use since 2007.
In a statement by NUC Deputy Executive Secretary for Academics, Biodun Salihu, the CCMAS has expanded BMAS from 12 to 17 disciplines, to reposition the system, to reflect the realities of the 21st century.
While ASUU argues the regulatory body did not carry stakeholders along, the NUC insists that in developing the CCMAS, it involved a blend of academic experts, government, professional bodies, and the private sector, represented by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG.
The NUC confirms that the inputs, along with the curriculum of programmes obtained from some foreign and renowned universities, served as major working materials for the various panels, constituted to develop a new curriculum.
Based on the law establishing the NUC, the university regulatory agency is empowered by Section 10(1) of the Education National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions Act, Cap E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, to set the minimum standards for all universities and other degree-awarding institutions in Nigeria, and conduct the accreditation of their degrees and other academic awards.
With the arguments over the new curriculum and the defence by NUC, it remains to be seen how the implementation process will be, as a new academic session is expected to begin in August.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
