The fragile peace being enjoyed in the nation’s university system may be truncated as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has vehemently kicked against a decision by the National Universities Commission to review 70 percent of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards.
The union expressed its displeasures in a statement on Friday, where it described the reviewed curriculum as nightmarish.
ASUU said the curriculum represents a threat to quality university education and is capable of eroding the powers of the university Senate in Nigerian universities.
According to the ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, it beats the imagination that NUC would pre-package 70 per cent of the CCMAS contents and try to impose it on the Nigerian University System.
He lamented that University Senates, who are statutorily responsible for academic programme development, were left to work on only 30 per cent.
Osodoke also noted that there were growing concerns about the numerous shortcomings and gross inadequacies of the CCMAS documents.
He said, “ASUU is not unaware that setting academic standards and assuring 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, Cap E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
“It enjoins the NUC to lay down the minimum standards for all universities and other degree awarding institutions in the Federation and conduct the accreditation of their degrees and other academic awards.
“However, the process of generating the standard is as important (if not more important) than what is produced as “minimum standards”.
“In this instance, the NUC has recently, through some hazy procedures, churned out CCMAS documents containing 70% curricular contents in 17 academic fields with little or no input from the universities”.