Nigeria's Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has unveiled a new curriculum for University education in the country to reflect the 21st century realities.
At a ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday, Professor Osinbajo said the development was part of efforts to make the Nigerian University education more responsive to the needs of the society.
The Vice President who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha remarked that the introduction of the "Core Curriculum and Minimum Standards" to Nigerian University education system will among other things, address local issues, meet international standards and uplift scholarship.
The new curriculum produced by the National Universities Commission (NUC) has unbundled such disciplines as Agriculture and the emergence of three courses namely; Allied Health Sciences, Architecture and Communication as well as the Media services
It will equally share the minimum credit units required for graduation in the Nigerian university in the ratio of 70 to 30 per cent, thereby further creating institutional peculiarities.
The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Professor Abubakar Rasheed explained that the restructuring of the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) started in 2018, with the introduction in its place, the Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS).
This according to him brought about the reexamining of existing programmes and the introduction of new disciplines and programmes in the Nigerian University System.
Professor Rasheed in giving further insights, said the new curriculum unbundled the Bachelor of Agriculture, Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication and the Bachelor of Architecture Programmes, while establishing some emerging specializations in these fields as obtained globally, just as the Allied Health Sciences was also carved out as a new discipline from the existing Basic Medical Sciences.
The CCMAS documents are uniquely structured to provide for 70 per cent of core courses for each programme, while allowing Universities to utilise the remaining 30 per cent for other innovative courses in their peculiar areas of focus.
