The National Universities Commission, NUC has rejected a programme being organised by the National Board for Technical Education NBTE, on converting Higher National Diploma, HND, to university degree.
Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Chris Maiyaki in a statement on Saturday, described the purported one-year top-up degree programme in Nigerian polytechnics as a ruse.
According to Maiyaki, “The existing dichotomy between first degree and HND had not been abolished even as universities and polytechnics had their individual unique programmes, which would pose a challenge to such conversion scheme.”
He said the place of technical education, the world over was unique, saying that in most higher education systems, polytechnics co-exist side by side with universities for the purposes of producing critical human resources, based on their peculiarities and in tandem with the goals for which they were established.
He advised the public and all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and MDAs, to note that the NUC is not a party to and, indeed, disavows the Top-up Scheme, being concocted by the NBTE.