The National Universities Commission (NUC) says implementing the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) will begin by September 2023.

Speaking at the stakeholders’ colloquium on CCMAS in Abuja on Wednesday, the acting executive secretary of NUC, Chris Maiyaki, said the document would reposition Nigerian universities to be among the best-rated in Africa.

Mr Maiyaki said CCMAS would make up 70 per cent of the curriculum while the university decides what to include in the remaining 30 per cent.

”The development of the CCMAS went through a painstaking process by bringing experts from our universities, comprising professors, regulatory bodies, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and all stakeholders,” he said.

The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, encouraged universities to optimally use 30 per cent of the university senate’s input.

Mr Mamman advised universities to ensure that learning outcomes, skills, and soft skills were acquired, irrespective of the core discipline.

”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,” he said.

The minister commended universities that had concluded their work on the 30 per cent component and submitted the same for review.

In a keynote address, former vice chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Michael Faborode, said the idea of the CCMAS was to promote diversification and differentiation in the system.

The CCMAS was developed in 2018 following the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) review, 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.

(NAN)