The President, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Engr. Ali Rabiu, Wednesday, disclosed that the realities of modern days had made it most imperative for COREN, after about 50 years of existence, to change the face of engineering education in the country.
Rabiu spoke at the opening ceremony of a 4-day Train-the-Trainers Workshop on its Outcome Based Engineering Education (OBEE) programme organized by the COREN for delegates from the Faculty of Engineering of Nigerian Universities in the North-Central zone of the country, held at the University of Abuja.
He explained that COREN in a bid to live up to its mandate of regulating engineering practice in Nigeria was expanding engineering programmes in the Nigerian Universities to strengthen its accreditation system.
The COREN president said it was mid-wifing a process that would lead to local and international recognition of engineering qualifications from higher educational institutions in Nigeria as that would improve the quality, proficiency and mobility of COREN registered engineers.
He disclosed that the council was in the process of becoming a provisional signatory of the Washington Accord (WA), after which graduates of engineering programmes accredited by COREN are going to be having privileges of employment in the signatory countries as engineers without further examinations.
He listed the signatory countries of WA to include: Australia, Canada, Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, UK, USA, Malaysia, India, Germany, Russia and Sri Lanka.
He said the next stage in implementing the Council’s resolution as regards the OBE “is to assemble critical mass of knowledgeable and experienced persons in OBE as well as mentees of OBE learning environment who are to pioneer and champion the capacity development of the various strata of Engineering Professionals involved in training, practicing and regulating in Nigeria (now referred to as University based OBE implementors),” and that was the rationale behind orgainsing the workshop.
In an interview with journalists, the COREN Register/CEO, Engr. Prof Joseph Odigure, said COREN was trying to bring stakeholders from the top to the bottom of the engineering profession in Nigeria, including the small-scale artisans, on board in the impartation of knowledge under the OBE programme, a norm, he said, was neglected over the years to the detriment of standard engineering practice in the country.
In a brief vote of thanks, the Dean, College of Engineering, Joseph Tarka University, Makurdi, Prof. J. A. Enokela, thanked COREN and all those involved in making the workshop a reality, adding that the training was one of the best things that would happen in the quest to revolutionalise engineering profession in the country..
Also speaking, another participant from the Joseph Tarka University, Makurdi, with the Academic Planning Directorate of the same university, Amos Adoge, confessed saying, “The impact of OBE education is going to be of very significant magnitude, not just to the universities alone, but all stakeholders in engineering, including the industries and every other place where an engineer is to work or contribute his quota.
“So this is entirely a deviation from the traditional ways in which we used to do things to bring about result-oriented graduates that will be coming out of our University.”
