By Julius Udoh
Prof. Florence Obi, Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of Calabar (UniCal), has disclosed that UniCal was supervised by the National Universities Commission, (NUC) and not Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, (COREN).
Obi gave the assertion in Calabar while reacting to claims by COREN in some national dailies that the university was running unaccredited engineering courses.
Dismissing the claim by COREN, the Vice Chancellor said engineering courses in the institution were just in their third year, getting ready for NUC accreditation in November 2023.
According to the VC, when COREN approached her for the engineering courses accreditation, she told them to hold on until the institution was through with NUC accreditation slated for November/December.
She said when COREN came to UniCal for engineering resource verification, her institution passed, adding that, she objected to COREN accreditation before NUC because they were supervised by NUC and not COREN.
Speaking further, the VC said that the University was yet to graduate any set of engineering students.
“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 requires NUC verifications and it is only due for accreditation this year, 2023.
”We have not graduated anybody, we have engineering students who are in their third year. Meanwhile, NUC is coming for the first accreditation by November/December 2023,” she maintained.
Addressing parents and students, the VC noted that the UniCal got approval to start five of the seven programmes back in 2020.
She said the programmes were due for the first accreditation in November/December 2023 and the university was preparing to host the NUC teams as scheduled.
“We shall be admitting students into the last approved programmes this admission year, this is verifiable from NUC.
“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 professionals; their interest in quality control should come in only when NUC has approved the programme and not before,” she disclosed.
Obi added that all professional bodies were expected to work with NUC for the overall good of the Nigerian university system and the quality of our products
