By Deborah Tolu-Kolawole
The Federal Government on Monday said it has increased the number of disciplines in the Nigerian University System to 17.
This was made known in a breakdown of the disciplines exclusively obtained by The Punch in Abuja on Monday.
The Punch had earlier reported that the government, through the National Universities Commission in 2021, inaugurated a committee of experts drawn from various disciplines in Nigerian universities to design the new Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards for universities.
The Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards which were brought about after a comprehensive review of Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards currently in use were unveiled to the public on Monday.
The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, said, “The radical re-engineering of the curricula in Nigerian universities is tailored to meet global standards and international best practices towards preparing Nigerian graduates for relevance in the fourth revolution world economy with the skills needed for the future.
“The Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards has been revised to Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards.
“The CCMAS, which will soon be unveiled to the public, provides 70 percent of what should be taught along with the expected outcome, while the university will provide 30 percent based on their contextual peculiarities and characteristics.”
The Punch reports that before the unveiling on Monday, there were 14 disciplines in the NUS.
The earlier existing disciplines are Administration and Management, Agriculture, Arts, Basic Medical Sciences, Education, Engineering and Technology, Environmental Sciences, Law, Medicine and Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Science, Sciences, Social Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine.
The new disciplines are Allied Health Sciences, Architecture, Computing and Communications, and Media studies.
Giving his final remarks, Rasheed said, “The CCMAS documents are uniquely structured to provide for 70% of core courses for each program while allowing universities to utilize the remaining 30% for other innovative courses in their areas of focus.
In addition to the overall Learning Outcomes for each discipline, there are also Learning Outcomes for each program and course.
“In general, programs are typically structured such that a student does not carry less than 30 credit units or more than 48 credit units per session.
“Consequently, the commission is optimistic that the 2021 CCMAS documents will serve as a guide to Nigerian universities in the design of curriculum for their programs with regards to the minimum acceptable standards of input and process, as well as, a measurable benchmark of knowledge, 21st-century skills, and competencies expected to be acquired by an average graduate of each of the academic programs for self, national and global relevance.”