UNICAL Vice-Chancellor Rejects COREN’s Allegations of Unaccredited Engineering Course
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Professor Florence Banku Obi has dismissed the claim by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) that UNICAL’s engineering courses were not accredited by its professional body.
However, in a swift reaction to COREN claims, Banku-Obi told Credible News Nigeria that UNICAL engineering courses are just in their third year, getting ready for the National Universities Commission’s accreditation in November 2023.
According to the Vice-Chancellor, when COREN approached her for the engineering course accreditation, she told them to hold on until the institution is through with NUC accreditation slated for November/December.
Professor Banku Obi said when COREN came to UNICAL for engineering resource verification, her institution passed. She noted that UNICAL is presently preparing for the NUC accreditation.
She said the reason she objected to COREN accreditation before NUC was because UNICAL is being supervised by NUC and not COREN.
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”I said when NUC okays our engineering, then COREN can come for their accreditation.
Stressing the implication of allowing COREN to come first for accreditation before NUC, the Vic-Chancellor said: ”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.”
In a telephone conversation with Credible News on Saturday, Professor Banku Obi said: ”COREN are not even sincere to themselves for saying UNICAL engineering course is not accredited.
”Our engineering programme is a new programme which attracts NUC verifications and it is only due for accreditation this year.
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”Are we under COREN? We are running an engineering degree. If they want to licence their people, when we graduate them, they can do so.
”We have not graduated anybody. We have engineering students who are in their third year. NUC is coming for the first accreditation by November/December 2023.”
According to a report from Credible News, COREN said, “The University of Calabar and Technical University, Ibadan, Oyo State are running engineering programmes up to 300 level and 500 level respectively without resource verification and approval by COREN.”
COREN also pointed out that the University of Abuja, Modibbo Adama University in Yola, and Ambrose Alli University in Edo State do not have authorised engineering programmes and are hence unqualified to produce engineering degrees.
The council also informed prospective students’ parents and guardians that all engineering programmes at the Technical University of Ibadan and the University of Calabar were being executed illegally without resource verification, pre-accreditation, or regulatory authority clearance.
The engineering body alleged that five institutions refused to renew their licences for various engineering courses starting in 2020, according to Ademola Adisa, the council’s registrar, who was speaking at a news conference on the outcomes of the council’s 179th ordinary meeting on Friday in Abuja.
Credit: crediblenews.com.ng
