In furtherance of the “change” mantra of the present administration, I published a roadmap to guide my Ministry on ways of addressing the multiple problems that faced the education sector of the country shortly after my assumption of office in 2016. Known as “Education for Change: Ministerial Strategic Plan – 2016-2019” (updated to 2018-2022), the content of the document reaffirms government’s commitment to strengthening institutional structures and establishing innovative approaches that would quickly revamp the education sector.
Change of nomenclature from BMAS to Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS)
Stimulation of Blended Learning in its delivery and Unbundling of some existing disciplines
Entrepreneurship has been repackaged with the introduction of programme-specific entrepreneurship
Reduction of the General Studies (GST) course from 36 credit units to 12 credit units of 6 courses
Preface
Section 10 (1) of the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, Cap E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, empowers the National Universities Commission to lay down minimum standards for all universities and other degree awarding institutions of higher learning in the Federation and the accreditation of their degrees and other academic awards. The earliest efforts at giving effect to this legal framework in the Nigerian University System (NUS) started in 1989 following the collaboration between the Commission and Nigerian Universities, which led to the development of the Minimum Academic Standards (MAS) for all programmes in Nigerian universities. The MAS documents were subsequently approved by the Federal Government for use as a major instrument for quality assurance in the Nigerian University System (NUS). The documents were employed in the accreditation of programmes in the NUS for over a decade.