Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Professor Florence Banku Obi, has disclosed that its engineering courses are on course to be accredited in November 2023.
Professor Obi spoke in reaction to the claim by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) that UNICAL’s engineering courses were not accredited by its professional body.
She dismissed this claim and clarified that when COREN approached her for accreditation, she insisted they put it on hold until the institution was through with NUC accreditation slated for November/December.
She disclosed that COREN accreditation should not preceed NUC accreditation and that the NUC was the university’s supervising agency, which approved its programmes.
“If COREN comes for accreditation and says we have passed and NUC comes later and says we have failed, NUC will stop us from running the programme. We must first get NUC accreditation before we can welcome COREN to our school.
”Our engineering programme is a new programme, which attracts NUC verifications and it is only due for accreditation this year.
”We have not graduated anybody. We have engineering students, who are in their third year. NUC is coming for the first accreditation by November/December 2023.
“Parents and our students should please note that the University of Calabar got approval to start 5 of the 7 programmes back in 2020.
“The programmes are due for the first accreditation in November /December this year and the university is preparing to host the NUC teams as scheduled.
“It should be noted that NUC is our supervising agency and the only body that approves or disapproves the running of degree programmes for universities.
“COREN, as a professional body, should be more concerned with licensing her professionals. Their interest in quality control should come in only when NUC has approved the programmes and not before.
“Universities should not be caught in the covert superiority of Professional bodies with NUC, rather it is expected that COREN and indeed all professional bodies should be working together with NUC for the overall good of the Nigeria University System and the quality of our products,” she stated.
The VC added that when COREN came to UNICAL for engineering resource verification, her institution passed.
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