The federal government (FG) has scrapped award of Higher National Diploma (HND) Certificates issued by Polytechnics.
The decision was reached at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, where the approval of a comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s tertiary education system was made.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, told journalists after the weekly meeting of the council that under the reform measures, his ministry would continue to license private polytechnics and colleges of education for the award of qualification at ND and National Certificate in Education (NCE) levels.
In effect, the award of HND will be limited to only the students currently admitted for the programmes.
Also, all the programmes currently being run by polytechnics, which are not technology-based, and which are about 70 percent, will be scrapped.
Under the new rule, the polytechnics will now become campuses of the proximate universities with the Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing provosts for the polytechnics, subject to the ratification of the Universities Councils.
The polytechnics will now be limited to award of the National Diploma (ND) while those desirous of further education will be awarded the Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) by the proximate university.
To kick-start the new policy, the nation’s two most prominent polytechnics – Yaba College of Technology and Kaduna Polytechnic – will henceforth be known as City University of Technology, Yaba and City University of Technology, Kaduna.
And to give legal teeth to these approvals, the FEC approved the submission of two Executive bills to the National Assembly for enactment.
With education being on the concurrent list, the states may wish to consolidate their tertiary institutions. But if they do not wish to follow the federal example, their programmes will continue to be regulated by the relevant agencies of the Federal Ministry of Education.
The first bill will concretise the setting up of the two city universities while the second will approve the preparation and consolidation of all federal polytechnics and colleges of education as campuses of proximate universities.
The Ministry of Justice will do the preparation and submission of the two bills to the National Assembly.
