A new curriculum for university education in the nation has been proposed by the Federal Government, which claims it will reflect the realities of the twenty-first century.
This was revealed on Monday at the launch of the new curriculum in Abuja by Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
According to Osibanjo, the advancement was made as part of initiatives to make higher education more responsive to the urgent demands of society.
Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, attended the unveiling in Professor Osinbajo’s place.
He explained that the introduction of the Core Curriculum and Minimum Standard to university education will address local issues, meet international standards and uplift scholarship in Nigerian universities.
The Vice president also commended the NUC for the unbundling of such disciplines as Agriculture and the emergence of three courses – Allied Health Sciences, Architecture and Communication, and media studies – the three new courses in Nigerian Universities.
“This document has indeed taken cognizance of the need to provide greater academic autonomy to universities with regards to the development of some percentage of course content.
“I commend the commission of this decision to share the minimum credit unit required for graduation in the Nigerian university in the ratio of 70 to 30 per cent. This will further create institutional peculiarity,” he said.
Speaking also at the event, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, said the commission has commenced the journey to restructure the Benchmark for Minimum Academic Standards BMAS in 2018, saying that it has introduced in its place, the Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS).
He added that the new CCMAS is a product of sustained stakeholder interactions over two years.