National University Commission (NUC) says the Code of Corporate Governance document for private universities is to guide the Proprietors, the Board of Trustees, Governing Council and university management in the governance of the universities.
NUC opines that the code was produced to tackle challenges of governance in private universities, saying the document clearly delineates the role of each level of governance structure of a university to improve university governance in Nigeria.
Abubakar Rasheed, NUC Executive Secretary says the commission has also developed a new blue print aimed at rapidly revitalising the university education in Nigeria between 2019 and 2023.
Rasheed said the document was produced in a bid to rejuvenate Nigerian universities. According to the document by 2023, access to university education should have increased by a factor of 20 percent over 2018 figures.
The report also indicate that the curriculum of Nigerian universities should be rated among the best three in Africa in terms of its relevance to producing nationally and regionally-relevant graduates who are high-level human resources for delivering on Africa’s Vision 2063 and addressing global SDGs.
“By 2023, at least 30 percent of facilities for teaching, learning and research should have been upgraded to meet international standards and maintained thereafter.
Speaking at the third convocation of the Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Ondo State, Rasheed, who was represented by Noel Saliu, director, Quality Assurance in the commission, said the development of the blueprint was thought on an extensive multi stakeholder base and that input were sought from students, parents, teaching and non-teaching, vice-chancellors and other stakeholders in the education sector.
According to him, “Data were gathered to determine Nigeria’s rank and challenges faced in the system at present as well as to seek practicable and sustainable solutions to the challenges and the cost implication for the solution.
He further solicited support of all stakeholders, government, the academia, the industries and all well-meaning Nigerians “To achieve the strategic objectives of the blueprint so that the document will not go the way of past strategic documents that were not implemented.”
“The participation of the private sector has, to a very large extent, expanded accessibility of education to many Nigerians, even though the carrying capacity of all the private universities put together is less than the public universities.”
The NUC executive secretary further expressed the government belief that as the private universities grow and develop, they will be able to admit many students as the public institutions.
He assured that the federal government was not just interested in increasing access, but equally achieving expanded assess without compromising quality.
He said since universities are quality assurance institutions by design, they must be seen to reflect quality in all their operations, be it academic or non-academic in order to ensure that graduates of Nigerian Universities will be both nationally relevant and globally competitive.
“The federal government will continue to be grateful to the private sector for their involvement in the delivery of quality university education in Nigeria”, he said.
KELECHI EWUZIE
