Accreditation teams from the National Universities Commission (NUC) on a peer review mission to the Marketing programme in the Department of Business Management, and the Demography and Social Statistics programme in the Department of Economics, have assured the Management of Covenant University of their mission to ensure that both programmes still conform to the regulatory body’s operational benchmarks.
The NUC’s team leader to the Marketing programme in the Department of Business Management, Professor Sylva Ezema Kalu, said the visit was not about fault-finding, but to see how the programme was doing and how it could be repositioned for a better subscription. “We want to be sure that the NUC standards are adhered to and maintained,” he added.
Professor Kalu noted that the Covenant brand was synonymous with excellence, coupled with the quality of graduates that had emerged from the institution and their performance in the industry, which had necessitated that the accreditation exercise should be all about maintaining or surpassing existing standards and quality.
Similarly, the team leader to the Demography and Social Statistics programme in the Department of Economics, Professor Bamidele Badejo, said the accreditation exercise was not about witch-hunting but about collaborating with the University.
Professor Badejo said the NUC expected that Covenant University would be a partner in the assignment to ensure that what was in place during the last exercise are still there, and have not depreciated from the established Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard (BMAS).
In his remark, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abiodun H. Adebayo, said Covenant was a vision-based institution poised to raise a new generation of leaders, committed to transforming lives, through a sworn covenant to parents and guardians towards bequeathing quality education to every student that subscribes to her programme.
According to him, the University was always committed and ready to work at ensuring that the NUC’s BMAS was met, maintained and surpassed at all times. “Our interest in quality necessitated the evolvement of customized programmes of the University, such as the Total Man Concept (TMC), Towards a Total Graduate (TTG) and avail the privilege to maximize the University’s startup lab, that will ensure that all graduates of Covenant are imbued with quality academic values that will make them business-oriented and smart for the world of work,” he posited.
Professor Adebayo said while Covenant was mindful of excellence and quality, she still recognized the importance of peer review processes, and would always make her processes open to constructive criticism that would aid the institution to conform to best practices both at home and abroad. “It may interest you to note that our antecedents in the nation’s and global education landscape have been validated by the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings of world universities in recent years,” he added.
The meeting had in attendance members of Management of the University, Heads of Departments to be accredited, and members of the Media and Corporate Affairs of the University.