The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has condemned the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) of the National Universities Commission (NUC).
ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke, in a statement on Friday, argued that the new curriculum structure posed a threat to quality university education and would erode the powers of the university senate in Nigerian universities.
According to the union, it is inexplicable that the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) pre-packaged 70 percent CCMAS contents were being “imposed” on the Nigerian University System (NUS).
This, it said, leaves university senates, who are statutorily responsible for academic programme development, to work on only 30 percent.
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“ASUU posits that CCMAS portends serious dangers for quality university education in Nigeria. It is an erosion of University Autonomy and Academic Freedom which the Union has advocated and struggled to defend over time,” Osodeke said.
“CCMAS is an emasculation of the university Senate which, by law and practice, should superintend curriculum review, examinations and award of degrees and certificates in each university.
“ASUU suspects the imposition of CCMAS as part of the strategy for implementing the Nigerian University System Innovation Programme (NUSIP) of the World Bank. The Union rejected NUSIP in the 1990s. We also reject the imposition of CCMAS on Nigerian universities now!”
The ASUU president described the CCMAS as a nightmarish model of curriculum reengineering and an aberration to the Nigerian University System.
He added that the CCMAS documents were flawed both in process and in content, saying there was no basis for the 70 percent “untouchable CCMAS” which in his view cannot stand the test of critical scrutiny of university Senates.
See the full statement below:
