Smaller endings as a rehearsal for death as the final ending

Academic planning is the process of taking appropriate decisions for the actualization of university objectives through the effective use of available resources. Most of the Academic Units of Nigerian Universities were established in the early 1980s, for the purposes of coordinating the academic programmes in these universities, streamlining their growth and development and avoiding unnecessary duplication of programmes (Uvah, 2003).

Generally, the Academic Planning Unit ensures that quality and international standards permeate all the conceptions and activities of the University, starting with its vision, mission and strategic objectives, and cutting across its operations in the areas of teaching, learning, research, community service, student admission and registration, staff employment, curricula contents, and human and material resources.

Specifically the Unit:

a. ensures that the various activities of the University are in line with the vision, mission and strategic objectives of the institution, and are in compliance with international standards;

b. updates data for planning and preparation of the University budget and subsequent resource allocations;

c. provides data-based information to guide the operations of the university;

d. collates, analyses and interprets data from relevant University Units;

e. periodically analyses data for the internal evaluation of the performance status of the University in relation to all NUC-approved funding parameters;

f. establishes academic linkages and collaborative efforts with universities within and outside the country;

g. sources for fellowships and scholarships for students of the university;

69 h. collects, analyses and publishes data for student projections and determination of

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE);

i. coordinates the disbursement of the Senate Research Grant (SRG) and the Direct Teaching and Laboratory Cost (DTLC);

j. stores and retrieves relevant institutional data for approved research, academic workload, projection, etc;

k. coordinates the production of the University’s Annual Report;

l. organizes university-wide conferences, seminars, workshops, lectures and international events;

m. monitors staff employment, deployment, development and promotions;

n. coordinates the annual assessment of lecturers by students;

o. prepares the annual draft budget of the University;

p. coordinates the revision and restructuring of academic programmes and course contents;

q. prepares a comprehensive report to the University System Annual Review Meetings (USARM) at the NUC;

r. relates with the NUC, JAMB, WAEC, NECO, etc on matters bordering on the introduction of new academic programmes; and

s. interacts with the NUC on accreditation and resource verification matters (Uvah, 2003 pp. 2-5).

With particular reference to accreditation, the Academic Planners Unit, under the leadership of the Director of Academic Planning, facilitate each stage of the accreditation exercise.

3.3.2. Stages of Academic Programme Accreditation

The Director, Academic Planning Unit carries out the following functions before the actual exercise:

a. Sends the list of academic programmes that are due for accreditation, in a particular year, to the NUC.

b. Thenceforth, the unit interacts and meets with the Deans, Heads of Departments and staff of concerned departments over accreditation issues.

70 c. Write to concerned departments and faculties to set up departmental and faculty accreditation committees for self evaluation of their academic programmes in collaboration with the Academic Planning Unit.

d. Write to the HODs of concerned programmes to submit the list of their accreditation needs through the Faculty Office.

e. Forward the list of the accreditation needs of the various programmes to the University management for further processing.

f. Follow up the submitted list of accreditation needs to ensure the needs are adequately met before the arrival of the NUC Accreditation Team.

g. Complete section A of the Self Study Form which requests for information about the University.

h. Collect, from concerned departments, the section B of the Self Study form, which requests for information about the programme, discipline or sub-discipline to be accredited.

i. Vet the Self Study Form to ensure that all the pieces of information required are provided and that all the NUC guidelines and parameters are strictly complied with.

These are in respect of: the number of academic and non-academic staff, staff/student ratio, adequacy of physical facilities e.g. office space, lecture rooms, lecture theatres, and laboratories, availability of: staff list, staff letters of appointment, student list by levels, student admission files, examination questions, answer scripts, marking schemes, score sheets/examination results, external examiners’ reports, employers’

reports, sample of students’ completed projects, budget allocation for the concerned department, and malpractice records, if any.

Before the accreditation proper, Director, Academic Planning Unit visits the concerned departments to assess their level of preparedness, harvest their final accreditation needs and process these to the authorities of the university.

He finally conducts a mock accreditation of concerned programmes/departments and sends the result of the mock accreditation to the concerned departments for necessary remedial measures.

71 The Academic Planning Unit also vets and sends 12 copies of the completed Self-Study Forms for concerned programmes, discipline or sub-discipline ahead of the arrival of the NUC Accreditation Team.

On the day of the accreditation proper, the Director of Academic Planning leads the NUC accreditation team to a courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor, and later leads the team to the concerned Faculty/Department for briefing with the Dean, HODs and staff.

The NUC accreditation team, led by its Chairman, then assesses the physical facilities:

classrooms, laboratories, lecture theatres, and library. They also check the compliance of the following with the NUC’s Minimum Academic Standard: the number of academic and non-academic staff, staff/student ratio, adequacy of physical facilities e.g. office space, lecture rooms, lecture theatres, and laboratories, availability of: staff list, staff letters of appointment, student list by levels, student admission files, examination questions, answer scripts, marking schemes, score sheets/examination results, external examiners’ reports, employers’ reports, sample of students’ completed projects, budget allocation for the concerned department, and the examination malpractice records. At the end of the day, the accreditation team meets with the Vice-Chancellor, the Principal Officers of the University, and the Deans and HODs of concerned Faculties and Departments, at which meeting the members of the Accreditation Panel will make their observations known.

Following the completion of the accreditation exercise, the NUC accreditation panel prepares the final report and verdict of the NUC and a “status of accreditation” earned by the programme is finally determined.

Usually, a programme earns one of three possible status:

(i) Full Accreditation Status: A full accreditation status is achieved by a programme when it has a total overall score of 70% and above, in addition to scoring at least 70% in each of the core areas of staffing, academic content, physical facilities and library. A programme with full accreditation status is formally re-visited after 5 years.

(ii) Interim Accreditation Status: A programme is awarded interim accreditation status when it has a total overall score of less than 70% or 70%, but with a score of less than 70% in any of the four core areas stated above. An Interim accreditation status lasts for 2 years, after which a re-visitation/re-accreditation is conducted.

72 (iii) Denied Accreditation Status: A programme falls into denied accreditation status if its overall score is lower than 60%. A denied accreditation status implies no further student enrolment until the programme is re-visited and re-accredited (Okojie, 2008).

Where a programme earns a full Accreditation Status, it is the responsibility of the university to work hard, not only to sustain this status, but to improve significantly upon it. In case of an Interim Accreditation Status, academic planners liaise with the concerned Department and ensure that the deficiencies are remedied.

Consequently, the university writes to the NUC, within two years, of the preparedness of the department for a re-accreditation.