In a press statement released today by National Board for Technical Education Head of Media Unit, Hajiya Fatima Abubakar, the educational body clarified that the new online top-up programme for Higher National Diploma holders to acquire a Bachelor’s Degree for one year, with foreign accredited universities, is meant for HND holders who want to pursue an academic career.
According to Abubakar, the statement was earlier made by the board’s Chief Executive, Prof. Idris Bugaje. He said ”This top-up is an alternative to the Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) offered by Nigerian Universities.”
”In a democracy such as ours, HND holders should be allowed to make a choice between PGD and the top-up to BSc.” He said the clarification came on the heels of misunderstandings about the programme in a section of the media.
”The choice of starting it with foreign universities is to show its universal acceptability perchance the Nigerian universities may eventually buy into it in due course. The cost is reasonable, just about 10 per cent of what regular face-to-face students pay.”
”NBTE has come up with the programme to enable interested Polytechnic HND holders to be at par with their counterparts with Bachelor’s degree holders.”
”And make it easy for them to go for their Master’s and Doctorate degrees for those interested in pursuing their career in academics,” he said.
During the launching of the programme in early August, Bugaje revealed that the initiative would ease the suffering of HND holders in the country. He said the board had to source for alternative for HND holders to do a one-year top-up, in conjunction with some foreign universities.
”Presently there are many PhD holders who academically progressed with HND through the PGD coming back to enroll for BSc (after their PhD) in Nigerian universities, a very retrogressive step indeed.”
“The HND qualification in itself represents something unique and this top-up shall be an encouragement for candidates to apply for polytechnic education since there is a pathway for progression into
academics.”
”This will never dilute the essence of technical education but rather enhance it,” he further noted.
