Nigerian Government has scrapped
Award of HND Certificates by Polytechnics.
The decision was reached at the
Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday where the approval of a
comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s tertiary education system was made.
In effect, the award of HND will
be limited to only the students currently admitted for the programmes.
Also, all the programmes
currently being run by polytechnics, which are not technology-based, and which
are about 70 per cent, will be scrapped.
Under the new rule, the
polytechnics will now become campuses of the proximate universities with the
Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing provosts for the
polytechnics, subject to the ratification of the Universities Councils.
The polytechnics will now be
limited to award of the National Diploma (ND) while those desirous of further
education will be awarded the Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) by the proximate
university.
To kick-start the new policy, the
nation’s two most prominent polytechnics – Yaba College of Technology and
Kaduna Polytechnic – will henceforth be known as City University of Technology,
Yaba and City University of Technology, Kaduna.
And to give legal teeth to these
approvals, the FEC approved the submission of two Executive bills to the
National Assembly for enactment.
With education being on the
concurrent list, the states may wish to consolidate their tertiary
institutions. But if they do not wish to follow the federal example, their
programmes will continue to be regulated by the relevant agencies of the
Federal Ministry of Education.
The first bill will concretise
the setting up of the two city universities while the second will approve the
preparation and consolidation of all federal polytechnics and colleges of
education as campuses of proximate universities.
The Ministry of Justice will do
the preparation and submission of the two bills to the National Assembly.
Minister of Education, Adamu
Adamu, told journalists after the weekly meeting of the council that under the
reform measures, his ministry would, however, continue to license private
polytechnics and colleges of education for the award of qualification at ND and
National Certificate in Education (NCE) levels.
He said, “There will be no more
award of HND.
“After we have exhausted the
current students under the programme, there will be no more award of HND. This
means that there will be no fresh admission for HND programmes. And in
addition, any programme that is not technical will be out of the polytechnics.
“About 70 per cent of polytechnic
graduates are in the non-technical courses. It is going to be a rigorous
implementation programme.”
A ministerial committee to ensure
the smooth implementation of all that is required for the take-off of the
reform initiatives is to begin work immediately.
Adamu said, “The HND certificate
will remain a legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificate will
continue to be recognised as the equivalent of first degree holders without
discriminatory remunerations and limit to progression in the work place.
“The NCE certificate will be retained as the
minimum teaching qualification at the basic level of education. Any higher
qualifications by these private or state-owned polytechnics will be only
affiliation with a university. So, HND is no longer in existence, but existing
HND will be respected and considered legal tender.”
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