The management of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) said that Law and other courses suspended by the National Universities Commission (NUC) would be restored in November this year.
The university said this in reaction to the withdrawal of accreditation of some courses in the university by NUC.
It was earlier reported that NUC had suspended Law, Dentistry, Fine Arts, Botany and Family Nutrition at the university.
Following the suspension of the courses, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) urged prospective students who had selected any of the courses in the just-concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to change their courses or institutions.
However, the university in a statement said the school was working to address the issues raised by NUC.
The statement signed by the University Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olanrewaju, reads, “The Management of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is aware of the directive by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) that the 2018/2019 candidates who applied to study Law, Dentistry, Fine and Applied Arts, Botany and Family Nutrition and Consumer Sciences should either change course or university, due to non-accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC)” The general accreditation exercise was conducted across all universities in December, 2017 and the nonaccreditation of some programmes cut across all universities, therefore, it was not peculiar to OAU.
There are 106 programmes in the university, of which the five mentioned above have issues with accreditation.
Although all these programmes actually had interim status during the last exercise, they were denied accreditation because of the existing NUC regulation which does not allow for back to back interim status, Olarenwaju said.
The university management, he said, was working assiduously to address the issues raised by the NUC, it, therefore, has no doubt that the affected programmes would be restored hopefully in the forthcoming accreditation exercise slated for November 2018.
“We hereby use this medium to officially appreciate the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for the prompt release of funds to upgrade the existing structures and facilities in the university.
We appreciate the concern of all stakeholders, particularly parents/ guardians and prospective students on this development and plead for their understanding.
The management will continue to do all within its power to uphold and build upon the academic excellence for which the university is known.” Meanwhile, OAU has recently emerged as the best university in Southwest Nigeria.
The university won the award at South-west Nigeria Education Awards, organised by Excellent Media Group and held at the University of Ibadan.
Also, the dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, OAU, Prof Durotoluwa Oyedele, the deputy vice chancellor, Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, Prof Abayomi Fasina and Dr Tomi Alade of the University of Lagos, all emerged as the best lecturers in the region.