- The CCMAS reflect global initiative that will equip graduates with knowledge and wherewithal that will advance the development of the nation.
- The CCMAS was developed in 2018 following the review of the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) –the curriculum guide for Nigerian universities, which had been in use since 2007.
The implementation of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) will start in September, according to the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The new CCMAS document, according to the commission, will help institutions create the curricula for their programmes.
In order to accomplish the country’s overall goals for education and training, it was further stated that the COMES will bring the essential innovation to the content and delivery of their programmes.
According to the commission, the implementation will help the education industry’s future become more focused.
At a stakeholders’ colloquium on CCMAS on Wednesday in Abuja, the NUC’s acting executive secretary, Chris Maiyaki, said the document would reposition Nigerian universities to be among the best in Africa.
The NUC chief said the CCMAS would make up 70 per cent of the curriculum while the universities would decide on what to include in the remaining 30 per cent.
Maiyaki said: ”The role and development of the CCMAS is to ensure commitment in advancing our education and our great nation. NUC is primarily dedicated to ensuring quality and global competitiveness of Nigerian universities as well as the graduates we produce.
“The development of the CCMAS went through a painstaking process by bringing experts from our universities comprising professors, regulatory bodies, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and all stakeholders.
“The CCMAS reflect global initiative that will equip graduates with knowledge and wherewithal that will advance the development of the nation.”
In his remarks, the minister of education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, encouraged universities to make optimal use of the 30 per cent university senate’s input.
He advised universities to ensure that learning outcomes, skills as well as soft skills were acquired, irrespective of the core discipline.
The minister said the skills must be readily applicable to the environment of the university, the country in particular and the global community in general.
He said: “There is no better place and time than now to develop a strategy that will guide tertiary institutions particularly universities in their mandate to provide appropriate manpower for the country.
“This is through using a curriculum and applying minimum standards that would guarantee we teach our students in such a way and manner that they would be highly skilled and employable to contribute to national development efforts.
“70 per cent of the total curriculum is captured in the CCMAS while 30 per cent of the curriculum has been ceded to universities Senates to build in the uniqueness of their various universities.
“This principle allows for a good deal of adaptation that suits not only local peculiarities of the universities but provides universities opportunities to carve a niche for themselves in areas of comparative advantage.”
Mamman commended universities who had concluded work on the 30 per cent component and submitted the same for a review.
He urged those who have not concluded work on their 30 per cent to endeavour to do so in the shortest possible time as the next academic session rolls in.
The minister e pledged the commitment of the Federal Government in ensuring that the education system remained nationally relevant and globally competitive.
A former vice-hancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Michael Faborode said the idea of the CCMAS was to promote diversification and differentiation in the system.
This, he said, was to provide proper conceptual administrative guidelines and a harmonised legal framework for higher education.
Faborode commended the over 70 per cent universities that had already complied with the uploading of their 30 per cent curriculum inputs into the CCMAS.
He said this was the way to go so that universities could be globally relevant and competitive and as well provide the educational needs to the students so they could be employable after graduation.
The CCMAS was developed in 2018 following the review of the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) –the curriculum guide for Nigerian universities, which had been in use since 2007.
The CCMAS also expanded BMAS from 12 to 17 disciplines to reposition the system to reflect the realities of the 21st century.
The 17 disciplines are: Administration and Management, Agriculture, Allied Health Sciences, Architecture, Arts, Basic Medical Sciences, Communication and Media Studies, Computing and Education.
Others are Engineering and Technology, Environmental Sciences, Law, Medicine and Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sciences , Social Sciences and Veterinary Medicine.