National Universities Commission kicks against top-up programme for Higher National Diploma graduates

The National Universities Commission (NUC), has kicked against introduction of top-up programme for Higher National Diploma(HND) graduates by the National Board of Technical Education(NBTE), declaring that the board has no such mandate.

Penpushing reports that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the regulatory body for polytechnics, introduced the one-year top-up programme in partnership with some foreign universities to convert the Higher National Diploma (HND) certificates to degree certificates.

The National Universities Commission (NUC), in swift response in a statement acting Executive Secretary, Chris Maiyaki, said the powers to lay down minimum academic standards and accredit universities and their programmes lies with the commission.

Penpushing further reports that the National Universities Commission(NUC),therefore, warned the National Board for Technical Education(NBTE) to desist  from the top-up programmes and remain focus on its core mandate which is limited to polytechnics

The statement also warned the public that National Universities Commission (NUC) is not a party to and, indeed, disallows the so-called top-up scheme, being concocted by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

‘In the light of the above, the advice of the NUC is that NBTE should focus on its core mandate and desist from introducing programmes that are outside its jurisdiction, and not supported by any law in Nigeria. NBTE doesn’t award degree certificates’, the statement emphasized

The Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof Idris Bugaje, in September had explained that the board doesn’t award bachelor’s degrees or act as a degree-awarding institution.

Penpushing also reports that he said, instead the board only plays the role of negotiating favourable terms and fees with the universities and linking the Higher National Diploma(HND) graduates with the National Universities Commission(NUC)

The Executive Secretary pointed out that the Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejoh, and National Universities Commission (NUC) had written National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) asking if it has become a degree–awwarding institution, explaining that the board  replied saying it doesn’t award degrees.

‘He (the permanent secretary) wrote us a letter saying you are now becoming a degree awarding agency. I said no. The degrees are being awarded by those foreign universities. We’re only facilitating by giving our curriculum for credit mapping. We replied to him and he instructed the NUC to also write. So they wrote to us and we explained to them that we are not awarding degrees because we know that NBTE has no powers to award degrees’, he stated

‘Those foreign universities are degree-awarding universities. We only facilitated it for our own children, the HND holders. We are very proud of our HND holders. And we arranged to give them all the necessary support so that they can excel’,Bugaje explained.

‘NBTE has the mandate to facilitate top-up as it is regarded as a post-HND programme. NBTE is not responsible for Top-up curricula rather the awarding universities are responsible, and the top-up degree is awarded by the Senate of those foreign universities. NBTE only facilitates access for those interested, to ensure only credible universities are involved,” he added.

Penpushing reports that Bugaje however, explained that National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) introduced the top-up programme when all of its efforts to end the discrimination against polytechnic graduates failed.

The Executive Secretary lamented that for two years, National Board for Technical Education(NBTE) wrote letters to the authorities concerned, hoping to address the existing dichotomy and get respite for Higher National Diploma(HND) graduates but none of the efforts materialised.

Penpushing further reports that he said although the board did not directly approach any Nigerian university, he said it wrote the Ministry of Education and National Universities Commission (NUC), both of whom he said appeared to be reluctant to key into the initiative.

‘We have written letters and sent reminders. We even drafted curricula and we sent it to the ministry but it has not seen the light of the day. None of our letters was replied to for two years. I came in (as the Executive Secretary) with that Agenda in 2021’, he stated

Penpushing also reports that Bugaje explained that National Board for Technical Education(NBTE) decided on the top-up programme approach after researching what is obtainable in other countries of the world.

‘NBTE therefore looked at the best global practice. We have discovered what is happening in Ghana, South Africa, the European Union and Eastern Europe. What we discovered is that the best option for Nigeria is to get them a one-year top-up. One year top-up will allow them to acquire a BSc…That is the purpose; to allow them to progress because all efforts to bring sanity to the system had failed’, he stated

‘A PGD is not the best for HND holders because anytime they go to do the PGD, at the end of their Masters and PhD, they will still come back to ask them where their first degree is. So, the first degree has become a yardstick for progression in academia’, Bugaje added

Penpushing reports that it is recalled that there has been clear discrimination between polytechnic graduates who hold Higher National Diploma(HND) certificates and university graduates who hold Bachelor’s degrees in Nigeria, despite multiple pronouncements unifying them by the government.

The dichotomy is especially pronounced in Nigeria’s public service where the Public Service Rules dictate that officers with Higher National Diploma(HND) certificates cannot rise above Grade Level (GL) 14 or become Directors in the civil service, a clear difference from the GL17 attainable by their counterparts who graduated from universities with Bachelor’s degrees.

Penpushing further reports Higher National Diploma(HND) graduates at the beginning of their career are placed at Grade Level (GL) 07 while Bachelor’s degree holders start their careers at GL08, and this development has led to several agitations, especially among holders of the Higher National Diploma(HND) and stakeholders in the polytechnic sector, all of which have failed to yield the desired result of ending discrimination.

The National Assembly in 2021, passed a bill seeking to end the dichotomy which is entrenched in Nigerian Public Service Rules but former President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to assent to the bill means the discrimination continued.

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