Degree conversion: NBTE responds to NUC that the top-up programme is outside of its purview

The National Board for Technical Education has clarified the situation regarding its proposed “Top-Up” degree programme in foreign offshore accredited universities for Nigerians who have earned the Higher National Diploma in Polytechnics, claiming the initiative is completely “beyond the jurisdiction of the National Universities Commission.”

According to a statement released on Monday morning by the Board’s spokesperson, Fatima Abubakar, the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Professor Idris Bugaje, made this statement in a letter to the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, in response to inquiries regarding the recently launched HND Top-Up Programme using offshore credit transfer admission.

The NUC advised the NBTE to abandon its plan to launch degree conversion programmes for HND holders from Nigerian polytechnics in a sharply worded statement. Chris Maiyaki, the interim executive secretary of the NUC, had stated in the statement that the NBTE was going above and above what was required of it.

Following the dichotomy that has persisted between graduates of universities and polytechnics, this newspaper had earlier reported that the NBTE had announced a partnership with foreign universities where HND graduates could convert their diplomas to degrees through a one-year conversion course.

According to Bugaje, HND holders who prefer to pursue an academic career currently have only one avenue for advancement—the Postgraduate Diploma—and if they want to transition to universities as instructors after receiving their Ph.D., they are constantly asked to show their first degree.

Bugaje has thus urged the Minister to get President Bola Tinubu to sign the Anti-Dichotomy Bill into law in order to provide a long-lasting solution to the HND-BSc conflict and ensure that it will put an end to the unjust and unjustified discrimination against HND holders in Nigeria.

The statement also noted that foreign universities were considering offering “top-up” or “credit transfer admissions” as a substitute for the PGD, and it cited media reports that six Nigerian universities had expressed interest in the conversion programme but that the Board had turned them down because the “NUC may not give them approval.”

The letter Prof. Idris Bugaje, executive secretary of the Board, wrote to Prof. Tahir Mamman, minister of education, was also cited in the statement.

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Only the FME Division of Evaluation and Accreditation has the authority to evaluate foreign degrees after students graduate and may request that.

“NBTE exclusively offers HND Curricula content for admissions that may ultimately involve credit transfer and credit mapping. Foreign universities decide who is admitted, and their Senates—not NBTE—award degrees. In actuality, the entire procedure is built to run without NBTE.

Although we sought modest tuition of a maximum of roughly 10% of usual rates since course delivery is online, NBTE likewise received no financial gain from the entire endeavour.

Further, the NBTE observed that NUC appeared to oppose online programming that were “attempting to take us back to the 20th Century” based on its press statement.

Online programmes are “today a globally accepted mode of Education delivery, especially in the 21st Century,” according to the NBTE. The Federal Government-approved Open University and the 36 Polytechnics currently operating NBTE-approved Open Distance Flexible and e-Learning Centres in Nigeria are examples of how the country’s educational strategy has accommodated this.

The NBTE also praised the output of Nigerian polytechnics and forbade the NUC from “further” discriminating against HND holders.

“Globally, HNDs from Nigeria are highly regarded. They are offered immediate entrance to Masters programmes in many European nations. Miss Islamiyat Ojelade, an HND Distinction in Science Lab Technology (Biochemistry) graduate from the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, served as a shining example in the previous academic year when she won PhD admissions and scholarships from seven prestigious US universities without having a BSc or even an MSc. Therefore, let’s start treating our HNDs with respect at home and put an end to NUC’s and other people’s prejudice.