The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has just turned down the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards devised by the National Universities Commission, NUC.
According to the academic union, the curriculum was ‘macabre’ and posed a threat to quality university education in the country.
According to a statement signed by the ASUU President, Professor. Emmanuel Osodeke, on Friday, June 30, it was perplexing that the NUC pre-packaged 70% CCMAS contents were being thrust on Nigerian Universities. Equally concerning was the fact that the University Senates meant to be primarily responsible for the academic program development, were left to work on only 30% CCMAS content.
Osodeke had stressed that there were mounting concerns on the numerous shortcomings and gross inadequacies of the CCMAS documents.
The academic union had revealed that it was not oblivious to the fact that setting academic standards and guaranteeing quality in the NUS is within the remit of the NUC Section 10(1) of the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, but the process of producing the standard is important than what would be produced as the ‘minimum standard’.
In Osodeke’s words:
“The NUC has recently, through a few indistinct procedures, produced CCMAS documents comprising 70% curricular contents in about 17 academic fields, with little or no input from the institutions.
The academic disciplines covered include:
Administration and Management, Agriculture, Allied Health Sciences, Architecture, Arts, Basic Medical Sciences, Computing, Communication and Media Studies, Education, Engineering and Technology, Environmental Sciences, Law, Medicine and Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Science, Sciences, Social Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine.
