There are now over 200 restructured and new courses in Nigerian universities, following the implementation of 70% of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
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NUC is one of the agencies supervised by the Federal Ministry of Education, whose mandate is to promote quality higher education in Nigeria.
The implementation of the newly restructured programmes for Nigerian universities takes effect from September 2023, according to the acting Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr. Chris Maiyaki.
Implementation of CCMAS
The new list of courses aligns with Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), which makes up 70 per cent of the curriculum while the university senate decides what to include in the remaining 30 per cent. CCMAS is a step away from Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS), which was formerly in use.
The NUC-CCMAS disciplines which were obtained by InfomediaNG show that there are now 17 faculties in the Nigerian University system.
They are:
- Arts
- Law
- Sciences
- Education
- Computing
- Agriculture
- Architecture
- Social Sciences
- Veterinary Medicine
- Allied Health Sciences
- Basic Medical Sciences
- Environmental Sciences
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Engineering and Technology
- Administration and Management Science
- Communications and Media Studies
The key highlights of the redesigned curriculum
The restructured disciplines show that some courses have been split to reflect today’s trends in the global education system.
Mass Communication:
There will now be various degrees under Communications to include:
- Advertising
- Broadcasting
- Development Communication Studies
- Film and Multimedia,
- Information and Media Studies
- Journalism and Media Studies
- Mass Communication
- Public Relations and Strategic Communication
Architecture:
Architecture is now a stand-alone faculty with various courses of discipline under it, the new courses under Architecture are:
- Architecture
- Architectural Technology
- Furniture Design
- Interior Architecture Design
- Landscape Architecture
- Naval architecture;
Here is the list of new faculties in Nigerian universities and the new courses under them:
Faculty of Administration and Management Science
These courses will lead to the award of a B.Sc.
- Department of Finance
- Department of Accounting
- Department of Taxation
- Department of Actuarial Science
- Department of Entrepreneurship
- Department of Aviation Management
- Department of Insurance
- Department of Marketing
- Department of Business Administration
- Department of Business Information Technology
- Department of Co-operative and Rural Development
- Department of Employment and Human Resource Management
- Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management
- Department of Information Resource Management
- Department of Local Government and Development Studies
- Department of Logistics and Supply Chain Management
- Department of Office and Information Management
- Department Petroleum Information Management
- Department Procurement Management
- Department of Project Management
- Department of Public Administration
- Department of Security and Investment
- Department of Transport Management
Faculty of Agriculture
- Agribusiness
- Animal Science
- Crop Science
- Agricultural Economics
- Soil Science
- Agricultural Extension
- Family and Consumer Sciences
- Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Food Science and Technology
- Agricultural Science (5-year option)
- Horticulture and Landscape Management
- Forest Resources and Wildlife Management
- Water Resources Management and Agro-meteorology
Faculty of Allied Health Sciences
According to NUC-CCMAS, there are now 19 departments under the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences and the degree that will be awarded at the end of the programmes:
- Audiology (B.AUD)
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine (B.Sc. CAM)
- Dental Technology (B.Sc. DNT)
- Dental Therapy (B.DT)
- Environmental Health Science (B.EHS)
- Health Care Administration and Hospital Management (B.Sc. HAM)
- Health Information Management (B.HIM)
- Information Technology and Health Informatics (B.Sc. ITH)
- Medical Laboratory Science (BMLS)
- Nursing Sciences (B.N.Sc)
- Human Nutrition and Dietetics (B.Sc.)
- Occupational Therapy (B.OT.)
- Optometry (O.D)
- Pharmacology (B.Sc. PHA)
- Physiotherapy (DP)
- Prosthetics and Orthotics (B.Sc. P&O)
- Public Health (B.Sc.)
- Radiography (B.Rad)
- Speech-Language Therapy (B.SLT)
Faculty of Arts
There are 26 courses under the redesigned curriculum for the Faculty of Arts, all the courses will lead to the award of Bachelor of Arts (B.A)
- Arabic
- Classics
- Folklore
- Archaeology
- History
- Music
- Linguistics
- Philosophy
- Religious Studies
- Chinese Language
- Christian Theology
- Christian Theology
- Film Production
- Islamic Studies
- History and Diplomatic Studies
- Modern European Languages French
- African Languages and Literature Efik
- African Languages and Literature Hausa
- African Languages and Literature Ibibio
- African Languages and Literature Igbo
- African Languages and Literature Yoruba
- African Traditional Religion
- Theatre Arts
- Modern European Languages German
- English Language and Literature in English
- Modern European Languages Russia
Faculty of Architecture
The new curriculum Architecture will lead to the award of B.SC. in various fields of disciplines, they are:
- Architecture
- Architectural technology
- Furniture design
- Interior architecture design
- Landscape architecture
- Naval architecture
Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences
- Human Anatomy (B.Sc.)
- Physiology (B.Sc.)
Faculty of Engineering and Technology
There are now 29 courses under the newly restructured Faculty of Engineering and Technology, leading to the award of: B.Eng./B. Tech./B.Sc, they are:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
- Automotive Engineering
- Biomedical Engineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Computer Engineering (here is a list of business ideas for a graduate of computer engineering)
- Electrical Engineering
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Electronic Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Food Science and Engineering/Technology
- Industrial and Production Engineering
- Information and Communication Engineering
- Marine Engineering
- Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Mechatronics Engineering
- Metallurgical Engineering
- Mining Engineering
- Natural Gas Engineering
- Petrochemical Engineering
- Petroleum Engineering
- Petroleum and Gas Engineering
- Structural Engineering
- Systems Engineering
- Telecommunications Engineering
- Water Resources Engineering
- Wood Products Engineering
Faculty of Communications and Media Studies
Courses under the Faculty of Communications and Media Studies will now lead to an award of BSC:
- Strategic communications
- Advertising
- Broadcasting
- Development Communications Studies
- Film and multimedia
- Information and Media Studies
- Journalism and Media Studies
- Mass Communications
- Public Relations
Faculty of Computing
- Department of Cybersecurity
- Department of Software Engineering
- Department of Data Science
- Department of Information Technology
- Department of Information System
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Information and Communications Technology
Faculty of Law
- Common Law (LL. B)
- Combined Law and Islamic Law (LL. B Common & Islamic Law (Combined)
Faculty of Social Sciences
Courses under the Social Sciences Faculty will lead to the award of B.Sc:
- Criminology and Security Studies
- Demography and Social Statistics
- Development Studies
- Economics
- International Relations
- Peace and Conflict Resolution
- Petroleum Economics and Policy Studies
- Political Science
- Politics, Philosophy and Economics
- Psychology
- Social Standards
- Social Work
- Sociology
Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
- Medicine and Surgery (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS/MBChB)
- Dentistry (Dentistry Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS/BChD)
Faculty of Education
- Department of Adult and Continuing Education
- Department of Agricultural Education
- Department of Arabic
- Department of Biology
- Department of Business Education
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Christian Religious Studies
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Creative Arts Education
- Department of Early Childhood Education
- Department of Economics
- Department of Educational Management
- Department of Efik-Ibibio Education
- Department of English Language/Literature-in-English
- Department of Entrepreneurship Education
- Department of Environmental Education
- Department of French (check our suggested business ideas for a French degree holder)
- Department of Geography
- Department of Guidance and Counseling
- Department of Hausa
- Department of Health Education
- Department of History
- Department of Home Economics
- Department of Human Kinetics/Physical Education
- Department of Igbo
- Department of Integrated Science
- Islamic Studies
- Department of Language Arts and Communication
- Department of Library and Information Science
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Music
- Department of Physics
- Department of Political Science
- Department of Primary Education
- Department of Social Studies and Civic Education
- Department of Special Needs Education
- Department of Sustainable Development Studies
- Department of Technology Education
- Department of Yoruba
Faculty of Sciences
- Applied Geophysics
- Biochemistry
- Biology
- Biotechnology
- Botany
- Brewing Science and Technology
- Chemistry
- Environmental Management and Toxicology
- Forensic Science
- Geology
- Industrial Chemistry
- Industrial Mathematics
- Industrial Physics
- Marine Science
- Maritime Science
- Mathematics
- Medical Physics
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Meteorology
- Microbiology
- Petroleum Chemistry
- Physics with Electronics
- Physics
- Science Laboratory Technology
- Statistics
- Zoology
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Final thought:
The NUC has done a great job by restructuring the BMAS, which gave birth to NUC-CCMAS, to reflect the 21st Century realities, in the existing and new disciplines and programmes in the Nigerian University System.
However, this may not really solve the existing problems of some of the modes of teaching in the university environment, whereby they teach topics that do not align with the market reality.
For instance, courses like mass communication and mechanical engineering are pure practical courses.
How will a mechanical engineering student with a bias in auto learn new things when his departmental workshop only has the 1970s engines of a Mercedes Benz?
What about broadcast undergraduate students who never saw how a TV or radio studio looks throughout their course on campus?
Better still, how would a lecturer who doesn’t actively use social media such as Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook teach New Media?
There should be a budget for training and retraining of university lecturers for them to know the 21st Century’s realities.
In the United States, university professors are trained and retrained to align with today’s market realities.
These are some of the practical ways to restructure Nigeria’s university system, not just by changing the names of courses while those who are there to teach the new courses in Nigerian universities are not aligned with market realities.
The education system isn’t what it used to be in the 1990s. The world has changed and it will continue to change.