The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has launched two portals for Higher National Diploma (HND) holders and accredited programmes of all polytechnics.
The first portal is for HND holders who wish to acquire Bachelor’s degree through online top-up for one year with foreign accredited universities.
The second is an admission portal where only accredited programmes of all polytechnics would be visible and allow the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to know admitted candidates to be mobilised for the mandatory national service.
In a statement by its Head of Media Unit, Fatima Abubakar, the NBTE said the new portal was to facilitate the progression of HND holders to higher degrees.
The statement said: “Attempts in the past to get the National Universities Commission (NUC) to approve a two-year Master of Technology for HND holders in some polytechnics did not see the light of the day.
“Many HND holders are forced to go for a one-year Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) before they could be admitted into the Master’s programme in universities.
“The disadvantage of the PGD is that holders who continue to do Ph.D. and wish to migrate to a Nigerian university will always be queried to produce their first degree, even when they have doctorates.
“To end this unwarranted prejudice, NBTE has now created this progression pathway for HND holders. This can be accessed at https://topup.nbte.gov.ng.”
NBTE added: “Another challenge facing many polytechnic HND graduates is mobilisation for the national service organised by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Many are admitted into non-accredited programmes and, after the HND, they are not mobilised for national service.
“NBTE has now created an HND admission portal for use by all polytechnics. Only accredited programmes shall be visible on the portal and NYSC shall have viewing rights to know admitted candidates to be mobilised.
“The website for HND admission is hppts://hnd.nbte.gov.ng.
“This will hopefully bring an end to illegal HND admissions of unaccredited programmes and at the same time ensure carrying capacities are adhered to for quality assurance.”
