Two new varsities to be approved next week – NUC

According to the National Universities Commission, preparations are being finalised to announce the opening of two new universities in the nation, bringing the total number of educational establishments to 272.

Chris Maiyaki, the acting executive secretary of the commission, made this statement on Thursday while speaking with reporters in Abuja.

According to Maiyaki, the NUC will keep approving new colleges in order to close the nation's admissions gap.
He pointed out that although two million applicants apply to universities annually, there are only between 500,000 and 700,000 spots available for admission.
Maiyaki's position is in line with the Academic Staff Union of Universities' and other tertiary education subsector stakeholders' opposition to the government's expansion of educational establishments throughout the nation at both the federal and state levels.

Stakeholders have repeatedly called on the government and the NUC to stop approving new public universities, arguing that it is not the right idea to establish new institutions while existing ones are underfunded.

According to Maiyaki, "we have no choice but to massify universities as a matter of deliberate policy."

He claimed that the amount of money invested in education sets developed nations apart from developing nations.
According to Maiyaki, each year nearly two million applicants apply for admission to universities; however, only between 500,000 and 700,000 are accepted.

"You need to see the anguish and frustration on the faces of families who are doing everything in their power to make sure that their children attend university education each admission session," the speaker stated. The NUC and university leaders are facing extreme difficulties, so our only option is to keep approving the universities.The approval of two more universities has been completed, and the news will be released the following week, bringing the total number of universities in the nation to 272.

According to him, Nigeria will keep expanding access to higher education by approving more institutions in order to meet demand and supply of high-quality education,
According to the Executive Secretary, applications for the creation of remote learning facilities that will be overseen to deliver high-quality instruction are now being processed by the commission.

But the head of the NUC emphasised that this does not imply that the days of setting up distant learning facilities are coming back.


In response to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's announcement encouraging owners of private colleges and other higher education establishments in Nigeria to collect tuition in dollars, he declared that no postsecondary institution is permitted to do so.

He stated that after looking into the claim, the commission looked into it and found that the aforementioned private university was not collecting payments in dollars.

Regarding the dollarization of this university's tuition, we have investigated it and the university is not charging fees in dollars.
They only charge dollars to foreign students. So I want the media to join hands with us to tell the public that no Nigeria university is allowed to charge fees in dollars,” he said.