The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC),
Professor Julius A.Okojie, OON, has advocated the need
for programme accreditation to be carried out in all categories of institutions(federal,
state and private), describing it as a panacea to African Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs) creating impact on the economy through the products of
these institutions.
Delivering a position paper on The Role of Accreditation in
Higher Education at an International Conference on the Future of Higher
Education organised by the School of Education and Humanities, Babcock
University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, from 23rd to 26th
August, 2015, Professor Okojie stressed that notwithstanding its financial
implications, no effort should be spared in conducting it until the
international standards fit for the purpose of entrenching a quality assurance
culture in the institutions were achieved. He alsocanvassed that each country
should devise ways and means of funding her accreditation exercises including
possible assistance from international partners.
The NUC Scribe, who was represented by a Visiting Professor
Akaneren Essien, told participants that Nigeria established the Tertiary
Education Trust Fund (TETFund), as an intervention agency, which had helped the
system as it had intervened massively and routinely in equipping public
tertiary institutions in the country’s Quality Assurance exercises. He further
harped on the need for the pursuit of institutional accreditation pari-pasuwith
programme accreditation since the former sought to objectively measure the
performance of a university holistically, guided by a clearly identified set of
criteria and relevant minimum standards.
The Executive Secretary asserted that universities and other HEIs
that have fared prominently in regional or global university rankings had
combined institutional with programme accreditation exercise. He emphasised
that the idea of establishing a continental quality assurance body was
commendable, but however, stated that the promoters of National and Regional
Accreditation Agencies must ensure the sustainability of their goals.
Professor Okojie called for synergy in the accreditation of
professional courses with the respective professional bodies concernedwho were
statutorily empowered to conduct the accreditation of their professional
programmes since the role of accreditation agencies was to ensure compliance
with the quality criteria spelt out for the various programmes. He disclosed
that the NUC had in response to this, continuously worked closely with such
professional bodies like the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN),
Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN), Council for the Regulation of
Engineering practice in Nigeria (COREN) and the Council of Legal Education,
among others.
The paper chronicled the history of quality assurance of higher
education in Africa which was traced to the pre-colonial and pre-independence
dispensations and particularly observed that the first formal accreditation in
tertiary education took place in Francophone Africa in 1968 with the creation
of ConseilAfricaine et Malgache pour l’EnseignementSuperieur (CAMES,)to
among others, harmonise recognition and equivalence of awards among the
16-member countries. It also noted that the first NUC accreditation exercise
was conducted in 1990-involving 758 academic programmes in Nigeria
Universities, with about 13 programme accreditation exercises having been
conducted since then, while in 2011, the first round of Institutional
accreditation exercise was conducted in selected Nigerian universities (minimum
of 10 years of establishment and the attainment of 70% fully accredited
programmes).
In the paper, Professor Okojie identified some changes in quality
assurance over the post-independence years in Africa HEIs and attributed them
to such factors as the end of affiliation and mentoring relationships, growth
in students enrolment which posed negative effects on the quality of teaching
and training of the students, growth of private HEIs, general economic decline
as well as increased pressure from competition and globalisation, among others.
He disclosed that as part of measures to tackle these challenges, some efforts
had been made by various agencies and groups in Africa leading to a movement
from diversity to harmonisation while they still maintained their institutional
and national identities as well as autonomies.
The Executive Secretary enumerated some of these efforts to include
the development of Guide to Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa,
development of Guide to Effective Teaching in Higher Education in Africa, each
with a Module for implementation. The
focal point and activities of the agencies within Africa were highlighted as
including the establishment of, African Quality Assurance Systems Peer Review
Mechanism, aimed at sharing experiences on structure, functions, management,
legal frameworks and other enabling attributes of quality assurance agencies in
higher education in Africa and the African Quality Rating Mechanism for Higher
Education (AQRM). Others were the African Quality Assurance Network (AfriQAN),
which was committed to enhancing the quality of higher education and also with
similar organisations in other continents and the African Credit Transfer
Systems, which was aimed at enhancing students mobility across institutions
within and countries after reaching common understanding on what constituted
“credit”.
The NUC Scribe explained that in Nigeria higher education system,
some specific institutions were responsible for the conduct of accreditation
such as the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) for Polytechnics, the
National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) for National Certificate
of Education (NCE)-awarding institutions and the NUC, with the mandate to lay
down minimum standards for all universities in Nigeria and to accredit their
degrees and other academic awards after obtaining prior approval through the
Minister from the President as due from time to time and approved by the
Commission. The NUC, he said, use a newly developed Benchmark Minimum Academic
Standards (BMAS) document for accreditation which provided for minimum course
contents in each degree programme, among other variables.
Professor Okojie submitted that the Commission carry out its
quality assurance programmes by way of accreditation activities in the form of
programmes accreditation, institutional accreditation and postgraduate
accreditation.NUC, had also continued to quality assure in the process of
licensing private higher education institutions and through the conduct of
accreditation along with professional bodies and the accreditation of distance
learning higher education programmes.
Meanwhile,
the Conference had its objectives for African universities to share best
practices for higher education performance in different countries and regions
of the world, to discuss the roadmap to effective and efficient higher
education delivery in Africa, to identify the challenges and prospects of
higher education development in Africa and to explore how society can fully
benefit from the contributions of higher education in Africa. 
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