FG Warns Polys against Conducting PGD Programmes

Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’I

NUC dissociates self from 2013 varsity ranking

Damilola Oyedele

The federal government has said it is illegal for polytechnics to run post-graduate diploma (PGD) programmes as it is not within their mandate.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’I, stated this  MONday, at the inauguration of Governing Councils for National Teachers Institute, National Educational Research Development Council, 15 Federal Polytechnics and 19 Federal Colleges of Education in Abuja.

Rufa’I, who warned tertiary institutions against holding convocations without issuing certificates to their graduating students, noted that the certificates should be signed by the Provosts and Registrars as applicable, which was the same way it was done in the universities.

“Issuance of certificates to graduating students is a prerequisite for approval for holding convocations: thus no certificate, no convocation,” she said.

The minister reminded the councils of their duties, which include to encourage responsive unionism among students and staff in their institutions and curtail the spread of cultism, drug abuse and other social vices by students.

She called for the development of effective strategies as a framework for the early detection and eradication of all forms of vices such as examination malpractice, sexual harassment, extortion, inducement, loss of examination scripts and results.

The minister also urged the council not to follow the practise, where honorary degrees and prestigious fellowship awards were turned to chieftaincy titles or not awarded based on merit.
Meanwhile, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has dissociated itself from a circulated list on the internet of ‘top 100 and top 50’ universities in Nigeria, which were said to be the outcome of an assessment by the commission.

The NUC, in a statement issued yesterday by its Chief Information Officer, Mrs. Bukola Olatunji, said although it was already building up to carry out an assessment for ranking, the last ranking exercise was carried out in 2004.

It was gathered that the ranking was based on data from an assessment of percentage of academic programmes of the university with full accreditation status, compliance with carrying capacity (measure of the degree of deviation from carrying capacity) and proportion of the academic staff of the university at professorial level.

Other considerations included foreign content (staff), foreign content (student), staff with outstanding academic achievements, research output, student completion rate, Ph.D graduate output for the year, stability of university calendar and student-to-PC ratio.