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Accreditation in Nigerian Universities: The Role of the Academic Planner

Accreditation in Nigerian Universities: The Role of the Academic Planner. TEXT OF THE PAPER PRESENTED By PROFESSOR A.G.A.S. OLADOSU Director, Academic Planning Unit, University of Ilorin, Ilorin. At The Training Workshop for Academic Planning Officers in Nigerian Universities,

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Accreditation in Nigerian Universities: The Role of the Academic Planner

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  1. Accreditation in Nigerian Universities:The Role of the Academic Planner

  2. TEXT OF THE PAPER PRESENTED By PROFESSOR A.G.A.S. OLADOSU Director, Academic Planning Unit, University of Ilorin, Ilorin

  3. At The Training Workshop for Academic Planning Officers in Nigerian Universities, Organised by the Committee of Directors of Academic Planning of Nigerian Universities (CODAPNU) in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC),

  4. Date   12th -15th July, 2011 Venue NUC Auditorium, Abuja ThemeThe NUC, the Academic Planner and University Management in Nigeria

  5. ORDER OF PRESENTATION • Introduction: Universities and their functions • The relevance of the NUC in running the universities in the country; • The meaning and nature of accreditation and related issues; • The role of Academic Planners before, during and after an accreditation exercise;

  6. 1.0 Introduction: Universities and their Functions Universities are tertiary institutions established to: • conduct demand-driven researches; • award degrees; • generate and disseminate knowledge, skills and competencies at the highest educational level.; • provide high level manpower training; • provide high quality career counseling; • provide life long learning programmes; • promote scholarship; • provide entrepreneurship programmes; • provide community service; • promote national and international understanding and collaboration (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2007, Draft National Policy on Education, p36).

  7. these are general statement of educational purposes endorsed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, • each university has a way of expressing the same sentiments through institutional statement of vision, mission and strategic objectives. • For example, the vision of the University of Ilorin “is to be an international Centre of Excellence in learning, research, probity and service to humanity”, • its mission is to provide a world-class environment for learning, research and community service”,

  8. its strategic objectives include, among other things: “to encourage the advancement of learning, promote scholarship, conduct research in all fields of human endeavour, produce high-quality graduates, deploy ICT facilities in all university functions, foster linkages, promote global best practices, etc”. (University of Ilorin, 2008-2013 Draft Strategic Plan). The above is just one example of the several examples that could be cited for each of the Nigerian Universities. • currently, there are 117 legitimate universities in the country which include: 36 Federal Universities, 36 State Universities, and 45 Private Universities. (NUC, 2011). • These universities operate within clearly laid down rules and regulations determined by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

  9. 2.0 The Relevance of the National Universities Commission • The National Universities Commission (NUC) was established in 1962 and attached to the office of the Prime Minister; • In 1974, it became a parastatal in the Federal Ministry of Education and a statutory commission charged with the responsibility of regulating the academic, administrative, and the financial activities of Nigerian Universities (Okojie, 2010; p. 101); • The Commission is, therefore, absolutely relevant to the running of all universities in the country. In specific terms, the Commission: • advices Mr. President and the State Governors, on matters bordering on the establishment of new universities and other degree-awarding institutions in the Federal Republic of Nigeria;

  10. prepares master plans, from time to time, for the balanced and coordinated development of universities in Nigeria; • ensures that quality is maintained in the academic programmes of the universities; • carries out higher education-related investigations; • advises the Federal Government on the financial needs of the universities; • reviews the terms and conditions of service of university staff and makes appropriate recommendations to the Federal Government;

  11. recommends to the Visitor of a given university that a visitation be made to such an institution where necessary; • channels all external aids to the universities; • receives and allocates Federal Government grants to federal universities; • lays down Minimum Academic Standards for the universities; and • carries out the accreditation of the degrees and other academic awards of the universities (Okojie, 2010, p. 101 – 102). This brings us to the meaning and nature of accreditation.

  12. 3.0 The Meaning and Nature of Accreditation • Accreditation may be used to signify the official approval granted by an accrediting agency to an accredited institution at the end of a successful assessment exercise (Hornby, 2001 p.8); • It could also mean the process by which the quality and standard of educational institutions are assessed; • The assessment is usually conducted by accrediting agencies set up by the Government through the Ministry of Education or by professional organisations; • In Nigeria, this quality assurance function is conducted by the National Universities Commission (NUC) for Federal, State and Private Universities;

  13. The same function is carried out by the National Board for Technical Education for Polytechnics and Monotechnics (NABTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) for this category of educational institutions (Adesina, 2005); • the professional content of some programmes is also assessed by designated bodies and agencies; • thus, the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council (NMDC) accredits the professional content of Medical Programmes, the Council of Legal Education (CLE) assesses the professional content of Law Programmes; • the Council for Registration of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) accredits the professional content of the Engineering Programmes while the Institute of Chattered Accountants of Nigeria assesses the professional content of Accounting Programmes; • Accreditation is essentially, about Quality and Standard.

  14. 3.1 QUALITY AND STANDARD IN ACCREDITATION • The two concepts of Quality and Standard are not easy to define (Njenga, Bissoonauth and Diara (2008). Our review of the related literature shows that “standard” is an integral part of “quality” and also that many scholars have alluded to how challenging it is to define this concept: Despite these challenges, however, there seems to be a consensus among a good number of scholars that quality refers to:

  15. how good or bad somebody or something is; • the degree of excellence attained by somebody or something; • the degree of somebody’s or something’s worth; • a product’s value level; and • a standard against which others could be judged.

  16. Within the context of higher education, quality is multidimensional and captures a wide range of functions and activities. In a university setting, for example, it permeates every aspect of the University System including: teaching, learning, academic programmes, research, scholarship, academic and non-academic staff, students, physical structures, facilities, equipment, community services and academic milieu (Njenga et al, 2008, pp 4);. • “Internal self-evaluation and external review, conducted openly by independent specialists, if possible with international expertise, are vital for enhancing quality;

  17. quality entails the inclusion of an international dimension in the functions of a higher education; • e.g. internationalisation of knowledge, interactive networking with the outside world, mobility of teachers and students across the country and off-shores, as well as international research endeavours without necessarily losing sight of local, national and regional norms, values and circumstances (Njenga et al, 2008). • academic and research collaborations with as many as possible universities across the globe; • and the admission of students from other parts the world. • closely germane to Accreditation is the concept of “Quality Assurance”. This has been described as the process of monitoring quality and ensuring that standards are not only continuously sustained but equally improved upon;

  18. The process is known as “Internal Quality Assurance” when it borders on policies and mechanisms effected internally to ensure that a particular institution, programme, profession or discipline continues to achieve its spelt-out objectives and to maintain standards expected of a higher education; • The monitoring process is known as “External Quality Assurance” if it is conducted by an external agency from outside the educational institution to find out the extent of its compliance with the established standards (Martin and Stella, 2007); • The continuous monitoring exercises conducted internally by the Academic Planning Units of Universities, the Academic Offices, the Student Affairs and other Units within Universities in general, are practical examples of “Internal Quality Assurance” mechanisms;

  19. The assessment visits conducted periodically, by the National Universities Commission, the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council, the Council of Legal Education, the Council for Registration of Engineering in Nigeria, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, and other agencies from outside the universities, are examples of “External Quality Assurance” procedures otherwise called Accreditation.

  20. 3.2 JUSTIFICATION AND LEGAL BASIS FOR ACCREDITATION • As indicated earlier, there are 117 Universities approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Universities Commission. If these institutions are allowed to operate without an accrediting agency, the standard of education would be compromised, the ultimate goal of producing a high-level manpower would remain a mirage and the graduates of the system would not be able to compete favourably with their peers in other parts of the world. Hence, the justifications for a body like the NUC to oversee and regulate the activities of these universities. But even then, there are currently 44 universities operating illegally, in different states of the Federation. This is apart from eight illegal ones with on-going investigations and court cases (NUC, 2011, pp. 11-12).

  21. It is relevant to note that the legal basis for accreditation of academic programmes in Nigeria is derived from Section 10 of Act No. 16 of 1985. This was incorporated as section 4 (m) of the NUC amended Act No. 49 of 1988, which empowers the Commission to “lay down minimum standards for all universities in the Federation and to accredit their degrees and other academic awards” (Okojie, 2008). • On the strength of the above Act, the NUC developed a set of Minimum Academic Standards (MAS) to guide Nigerian Universities in the development, implementation and evaluation of their curricula. The MAS was reviewed by the NUC in 2004 and resulted in the development of Benchmarks Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) (Okojie, 2008). Institutional compliance with the stipulated standards is measured through specially designed accreditation instrument.

  22. 3.3 ACCREDITATION INSTRUMENT • The National Universities Commission measures institutional compliance with the Minimum Academic Standards using the following instruments: • Self-Study Form (SSF): The self-study form is divided into two sections: section “A” and Section “B”. The Section “A” solicits general information about the University and requires the Vice-Chancellor or a designated officer of the University visited to provide the information. The Section “B” solicits information about the programmes to be accredited and requires the Head of Department of the programmes to be accredited to provide the information.

  23. (ii) Manual of Accreditation Procedure for Academic Programmes in Nigerian Universities: This document provides the detailed information on the objectives, processes and specimens of the other forms that have been completed by the universities and panel members for each of the programmes (NUC, 1999). (iii) Programme Evaluation Form (PEF): - This form is to be completed by each panel member. The form provides scoring columns and columns for relevant comments (NUC 1999).

  24. (iv) Accreditation Panel Report Form (APRF): - The Chairman of the panel completes this form for each of the programmes being accredited. The summary of scores and accreditation status are entered into the space provided in the form (NUC 1999). (v) Minimum Academic Standards Document: - The Minimum Academic Standards Document contains the minimum course content in each degree programme, minimum physical facilities; minimum laboratory space; library and the staff/student ratio (NUC 1999).

  25. The programmes to be accredited are evaluated and scored based on the following criteria: staffing (32%), academic content (23%), physical facilities (25%), library (12%), funding (5%) and employers rating (3%) (NUC 1999). The four core areas in the criteria are: academic content; staffing; physical facilities and the library. • The above accreditation instrument applies to Programme Accreditation. As for Institutional Accreditation, this seeks to objectively measure the performance of a university wholistically, guided by a clearly identified criteria, sub-criteria and relevant minimum standards. Our review of related literature revealed that the draft tool for conducting an Institutional Self Accreditation was labelled “INSTRUMENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ACCREDITATION” designed jointly by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Association of African Universities (AAU).

  26. 3.4 Content of the Institutional Accreditation Instrument The Instrument contains eight major criteria: • Institutional Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals. • Institutional Governance and Administration. • Institutional Resources. • Quality of Teaching, Learning and Research. • Institutional Efficiency and Effectiveness. • Extension Services and Consultancies. • Transparency, Financial Management and Stability. • General Ethos.

  27. Like the Programme Assessment Tool, the NUC/AAU, Draft Instrument for Institutional Accreditation determines the Accreditation Status of a University at the end of the Accreditation exercise as follows: • A university with a score of 80% and above earns a letter grade of A+, an evaluation remark of EXCELLENT, and a status of FULL ACCREDITATION with a 10 year life-span. • A university with a score of between 70 – 79% obtains a letter grade of A, an evaluation remark of EXCELLENT, and a status of FULL ACCREDITATION with a life-span of 10 years.

  28. A university with a score of between 65 and 69%, is credited with a letter grade of B+, an evaluation remark of GOOD, and a life-span of 8 years. • With a score of between 60-64%, a university earns a letter grade of B, an evaluation remark of GOOD, a status of FULL ACCREDITATION, and a life-span of 8 years. • With a score of between 55 and 59%, a university gets a letter grade of C+, an evaluation remark of FAIR, a status of INTERIM ACREDITATION, and a life-span of 5 years. • To score between 50 and 54% means that the concerned university obtains a letter grade of C, an evaluation remark of FAIR, a status of INTERIM ACCREDITATION, and life-span of 3 years.

  29. To score between 45 and 49% means that the concerned university earns a letter grade of D, an evaluation remark of POOR, a status of PROBATION and a life-span of 2 years. • Any university with a score between 40 - 44% earns a letter grade of E, an evaluation remark of POOR, a status of PROBATION and a life-span of 1 year. • Finally, a university that scores less than 40%, earns a letter grade of F, an evaluation remark of FAIL, a status of DENIED ACCREDITATION and a zero life-span (NUC/AAU Instrument for Institutional Self Assessment, 2010).

  30. The above has brought to focus, the significance of accreditation as a process by which international standard is ensured and assured. Needles to say, the process allows for improvement upon the content of academic programmes, the quality of staff members, physical facilities, library holdings as well as funding. • In all of the above issues, Academic Planners play a fundamental role.

  31. 4.0 The Role of Academic Planners • Academic planning is the process of taking appropriate decisions for the actualisation of the objectives of a university through the effective use of available resources. Most of the Academic Units of Nigerian Universities were established in the early 1980s, for the purposes of coordinating the academic programmes of the universities, streamlining their growth and development and avoiding unnecessary duplication of programmes (Uvah, ND, p. 1 ). • Generally, the Academic Planning Unitensures that quality and international standards permeate all the conceptions and activities of the University, starting with its vision, mission and strategic objectives, and cutting across its operations in the areas of teaching; learning; research; community service; student admission and registration; staff employment; academic programmes; curricula contents; human and material resources; and other related matters.

  32. Specifically the Unit: • ensures that the various activities of the University are in line with the vision, mission and strategic objectives of the institution, and are in compliance with international standards; • updates data for planning and preparation of the University budget and subsequent resource allocations; • provides data-based information to guide the operations of the university; • collates, analyses and interprets data from relevant University Units; • periodically analyses data for the internal evaluation of the performance status of the University in relation to all NUC-approved funding parameters;

  33. establishes academic linkages and collaborative efforts with universities within and outside the country; • sources for fellowships and scholarships for students of the university; • collects, analyses and publishes data for student projections and determination of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE); • coordinates the disbursement of the Senate Research Grant (SRG) and the Direct Teaching and Laboratory Cost (DTLC); • stores and retrieves relevant institutional data for approved research, academic workload, projection, etc; • coordinates the production of the University’s Annual Report; • organises university-wide conferences, seminars, workshops, lectures and international events;

  34. monitors staff employment, deployment, development and promotions; • coordinates the annual assessment of lecturers by students; • prepares the annual draft budget of the University; • coordinates the revision and restructuring of academic programmes and course contents; • prepares a comprehensive report to the University System Annual Review Meetings (USARM) at the NUC; • relates with the NUC, JAMB, WAEC, NECO, etc on matters bordering on the introduction of new academic programmes; and • interacts with the NUC on accreditation and resource verification matters. (Uvah, ND, pp. 2-5).

  35. With particular reference to accreditation, Academic Planners, under the leadership of the Director of Academic Planning, facilitate each stage of the accreditation exercise, as indicated below. 4.1 Pre-Accreditation Role of Academic Planners • Academic planners send the list of academic programmes that are due for accreditation, in a particular year, to the NUC. • Thenceforth, they interact and meet with the Deans, Heads of Departments and staff of concerned departments over accreditation issues.

  36. They write to concerned departments and faculties to set up departmental and faculty accreditation committees for self evaluation of their academic programmes in collaboration with the Academic Planning Unit. • They write to the HODs of concerned programmes to submit the list of their accreditation needs through the Faculty Office. • They forward the list of the accreditation needs of the various programmes to the University management for further processing. • They follow up the submitted list of accreditation needs to ensure the needs are adequately met before the arrival of the NUC Accreditation Team.

  37. They complete section A of the Self Study Form which requests for information about the University. • They collect, from concerned departments, the section B of the Self Study form, which requests for information about the programme, discipline or sub-discipline to be accredited. • They vet the Self Study Form to ensure that all the pieces of information required are provided and that all the NUC guidelines and parameters are strictly complied with. These are in respect of:

  38. the number of academic and non-academic staff • staff/student ratio • adequacy of physical facilities e.g. office space, lecture rooms, lecture theatres, laboratories etc. • availability of: • staff list • staff letters of appointment • student list by levels • student admission files • examination questions • answer scripts • marking schemes • score sheets/examination results • external examiners’ reports • employers’ reports • sample of students’ completed projects • budget allocation for the concerned department • malpractice records, if any, etc.

  39. Before the accreditation proper, planners visit concerned departments, to assess their level of preparedness, harvest their final accreditation needs and process these to the authorities of the university. • Planners finally conduct a mock accreditation of concerned programmes/departments. • They send the results of the mock accreditation to the concerned departments for necessary remedial measures. • They produce and Vet 12 copies of the completed Self-Study Forms for concerned programmes, discipline or sub-discipline ahead of the arrival of the NUC Accreditation Team.

  40. 4.2 The Role of Academic Planners during the Accreditation Exercise • Academic Planners play the following roles, among others, during the accreditation exercise. They: • communicate with the secretary to the NUC Accreditation Team to confirm the possible time of members’ arrival, either by air or road; • make hotel reservations for members of the team; • inform the secretary to the team about the details of the hotel where accommodation is provided; • convey the above information to individual members of the team, where possible;

  41. receive the team either at the airport or at the hotel as the case may be; • ensure that members of the team are comfortable throughout their stay; • submit the completed Self Study Forms to the Secretary to the NUC Accreditation Team; • arrange for the Team’s courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor on the 1st day of the accreditation exercise; • attend the Team’s courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor and take relevant notes; • lead the accreditation team to the concerned Faculty/Department and attend the Team’s briefing with the Dean, HODs and staff;

  42. attend the Team’s meeting with the HOD and staff of the concerned Department(s); • accompany the Team to assess physical facilities: classrooms, laboratories, lecture theatres, library, etc.; • attend the Team’s final meeting with the Vice-Chancellor, the Principal Officers of the University, and the Deans and HODs of concerned Faculties and Departments, at which members of the Accreditation Panel make their observations known. • take notes on the observations of the Panel and the reactions of the University Administration. • monitor the welfare and safe departure of the Team.

  43. 4.3 Post-Accreditation Role of Academic Planners Following the completion of the accreditation exercise, the Academic Planners watch out for the final report and verdict of the NUC. And as soon as the report is received, they swing into fresh action. Here, their specific role is determined by the status earned by a particular programme, indicated in the final report containing the verdict of the NUC. Usually, a programme earns one of three possible status:

  44. (i) Full Accreditation Status: A full accreditation status is achieved by a programme when it has a total overall score of 70% and above, in addition to scoring at least 70% in each of the core areas of staffing, academic content, physical facilities and library. A programme with full accreditation status is formally re-visited after 5 years. (ii) Interim Accreditation Status: A programme is awarded interim accreditation status when it has a total overall score of less than 70% or 70%, but with a score of less than 70% in any of the four core areas stated above. An Interim accreditation status lasts for 2 years, after which a re-visitation/re-accreditation is conducted.

  45. (iii) Denied Accreditation Status: A programme falls into denied accreditation status if its overall score is lower than 60%. A denied accreditation status implies no further student enrolment until the programme is re-visited and re-accredited (Okojie, 2008). Where a programme earns a full Accreditation Status, academic planners endeavour very hard, not only to sustain this status, but to improve significantly upon it. In case of an Interim Accreditation Status, academic planners:

  46. liaise with the concerned Department; • ensure that the departmental accreditation committee, in collaboration with the Academic Planning Unit, studies the deficiencies; • address the deficiencies that could be directly remedied by the Department and ensure that they are remedied; • determine the cost implication of other deficiencies • ensure that the cost implication for remedying the deficiencies are conveyed to he University Administration. • follow up the processes of making money available to remedy the deficiencies;

  47. ensure that the deficiencies are actually remedied; • inform the NUC, within two years, of the preparedness of the Department for a re-accreditation; and • prepare to receive the NUC Re-accreditation Team.

  48. In case of a Denied Accreditation Status, Academic Planners go through the whole rigorous process of preparing for a fresh accreditation exercise, as outlined in the sub-section dealing with their Pre-Accreditation Role. • It is pertinent to remark that no university earns an absolutely perfect accreditation status. There are always some minor deficiencies that an institution has to remedy, even when a full Accreditation Status is earned. This is why Academic Planners work round the clock throughout the year. Indeed, they need more than 24 hours to discharge their responsibilities per day !!!

  49. 5.0Conclusion The foregoing has taken us through the functions of a university, the significance of the NUC, the essence of Accreditation and the role of Academic Planners. It remains to be emphasised that Academic Planners play a core role not only in the process of accreditation, but also in the overall running of tertiary institutions. The Academic Planning Unit of a university is unarguably the life wire of the institution since its primary responsibility for Quality Assurance runs through the various academic and administrative activities of a higher institution. This is why the accreditation of a university is indeed an assessment and an evaluation of the Academic Planning Unit.

  50. And this is also the justification for ensuring that the Unit is placed on a very solid and strong footing in terms of its structure, staffing, budgeting, office accommodation, provision of modern ICT facilities, welfare, and appointment of eminently qualified personnel. Academic Planners must possess not only the basic academic and professional qualifications and competencies, but also the required zeal, passion, integrity, commitment, patriotism, selflessness, efficiency, effectiveness, resourcefulness, patience, endurance, inspiration and the vision to play appropriate leadership role in the unit and indeed beyond.

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