The National Universities Commission (NUC) has stated that universities in Nigeria must attain a minimum score of 70 per cent in four core areas before securing accreditation.
The commission listed the areas to include: Academic Matters, Staffing, Physical Facilities, and Library.
Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu made the clarification in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
Ribadu stated that the accreditation process was rigorous and designed to ensure universities upheld high academic standards.
He stated, “The programme accreditation instrument used for the exercise has seven sections, four of which are considered core areas, which include Academic Matters, Staffing, Physical Facilities, and Library.
“To attain Full Accreditation Status, a programme must score a minimum of 70% in each of the four core areas and an overall score of 70% or above in its entirety. It is important to note that earning Full Accreditation Status does not imply that a programme has all the necessary resources in perfect measure.
“However, this is deemed to be an acceptable standard of performance, with adequate room for further improvements.”
He stated that the NUC’s regulatory regime was one of the most robust quality assurance ecosystems in Africa.
He added, “The Commission’s regulatory regime has been adjudged to be one of the most robust quality assurance ecosystems in Africa and countries like Namibia, Gambia and recently Niger Republic etc have come to understudy its best practices.
“Additionally, foreign universities regularly utilise NUC’s accreditation results for the screening of applications for admission purposes in their institutions.
“We reckon that there is no such perfect Accreditation system anywhere in the world, but we are poised as a University System to continually work on deepening our culture of quality assurance.”
The NUC chief also drew attention to a social media publication attributed to one Taofik Olatubonsun, which made unsubstantiated assertions about the Commission’s accreditation tradition.
Ribadu described the claim that NUC’s accreditation was a mere formality as false, baseless, and disseminated from an uninformed position.
He added, “The Commission adopts a peer review approach, where it engages independent panels of Professors who are subject experts to serve as evaluators in the accreditation of academic programmes.
“…Once accreditation results are submitted to the NUC, the Commission undertakes a vigorous internal review of the reports to ensure that evaluators adhere to NUC’s accreditation guidelines.
“This is followed by a ratification session where NUC representatives defend the findings of the accreditation reports before the NUC Management Commission.
“This process, which is typically thorough and painstaking, is tailored towards ensuring the credibility of the results.”
The NUC Boss added that the commission is committed to ensuring that Nigerian universities produce competent graduates who can compete globally.
He urged stakeholders and the general public to rely on verified information rather than baseless accusations that undermine the credibility of the higher education system.
