By Gilbert Davou (Student Editor)
Academics have been advised to embrace global best practices in the execution of curriculum for courses they run.
This was part of the ongoing accreditation exercise conducted in the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jos.
In an interview with Unijos Echo Online, Head of the Social Sciences accreditation team, Professor Idowu Sobowale noted that the exercise is to keep the university on its toes in terms of adherence to standards.
A seasoned Scholar from the Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Sobowale revealed that the NUC team is accrediting courses in all Social Sciences departments of the university including Geography and Mass Communication, which he pointed out are social sciences courses that have been placed under other faculties.
On whether the team would recommend that the courses mentioned be placed under the Faculty of Social Sciences, he said, “of course, that goes without saying.”
However, he declined to reveal the outcome of the exercise as the report would go to NUC, but said the faculty was not doing badly.
Sobowale encouraged the university management and the faculty to continue to double their efforts at making the things better.
“There is no situation that can get them to a point where they can say there is no room for improvement. Always, there must be room for improvement”, he said.
He also advised students to be diligent and law abiding adding, “while they are here, students must compose themselves and make sure that they are doing what would enhance their own credibility and the credibility of the university in the eyes of the whole wide world.”
Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor Ezekiel Best, in his remarks, expressed optimism about the outcome of the accreditation exercise. “We have tried to be prepared and do all that is expected to the best of our ability with the resources available to us before the coming of the accreditation team. They had informed us of their visit before now.
“We are therefore hopeful that at the end of the day, we would have met the many requirements by NUC and that the courses in the six departments that NUC has identified would get accreditation… Including Geography & Planning and Mass Communication.”
Giving insight into the essence of the accreditation exercise, he said any department that is denied accreditation would stop admitting students until the programme is re-accredited.
“It’s very clear. If you do not get accreditation, you would not admit students in that program until you get accreditation. If they give you Interim accreditation, it means that there are some things you have to improve on within a given time and if that time lapses and you still haven’t improved, then they’ll deny you accreditation.”
For students who are already in the department that may be affected by the accreditation exercise, Professor Best said, “as far as NUC is concerned, they have to be transfered to other departments or other Nigerian universities basically theoretically or practically. It had been done in other universities in the country.”
Head, Department of Mass Communication, Dr. Sarah Lwahas described the visit as a periodic practice which is conducted all over Federal universities in Nigeria.
“It is not something that is not expected. Every department under a faculty that gets accreditation of its programme is given five years, after which the accreditation expires and it is supposed to call for re-accreditation.
“For us in Mass Communication, the accreditation we are enjoying actually came from Theatre & Communication Arts. Mass Communication emerged from Theatre & Communication Arts.
“Mass Comm. has been operating with the accreditation that was got while it was still under Theatre Arts five years ago- that was in 2005. This is the reason why we are up for accreditation now… And it is also why the department offers a Bachelor in Arts”, she explained.
The HOD shared her hope over the exercise saying, “so far so good, we have been able to take the accreditation team to very relevant areas because they are areas NUC specifically sent in information they wanted us to prepare based on our curriculum and what we are teaching.
Dr. Lwahas noted that the exercise is for the benefit of the department because it will draw attention to areas that need improvement, and therefore called on students not to be in doubt, but to be optimistic about the exercise.
