Leadership (Abuja)
1 January 2009
Adon, Prof. Peter Okebukola, yesterday, gave nod to the plan by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to embark on grading of universities in the country.
Okebukola, a former Executive Secretary of NUC, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the exercise would further improve on the standard of operations of the institutions.
The NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, had in a recent media report, disclosed his commission's plans to embark on the ranking of Nigerian universities.
He said that the exercise would involve the use of certain criteria such as facilities, funding, lecturer-student ratio and the impact of universities on their host communities.
According to Okojie, this is aimed at assisting stakeholders in selecting between highly-graded and lowly-graded institutions and also to help to know which universities to choose for their wards.
Although Okebukola said ranking of universities had been an ongoing exercise, he added that it had gone a long way in monitoring and evaluating the activities of the institutions.
He said that the NUC should work towards improving the process so as to turn around the institutions to centres of excellence and to give proper guide to stakeholders.
Okebukola, who is also the Pro-Chancellor, Osun State University, said the exercise would also give the various governments the opportunity to give funding attention to the institution's programmes, as well as open avenues for partnership with foreigners. Another don, Prof. Duro Ajeiyalemi, also commended NUC for the exercise, saying that it would make university authorities to be alive to their responsibilities.
"The development will have positive effects on the nation's universities, keep university officials on their toes and spark up healthy competitions among institutions," Ajeiyalemi stated.
The University of Lagos don, however, frowned at a situation where universities borrow equipment and staff members for presentation to the NUC to get their programmes accredited.
He counseled the commission to put on ground some measures for monitoring the activities of the nation's universities in order to ensure sanity in the system. (NAN)
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
