In response to recent claims made by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) in some national publications, Prof. Florence Obi, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar (UniCal), has clarified the accreditation status of the university’s engineering courses.
Prof. Obi firmly asserted that UniCal is under the supervision of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and not COREN. She made these remarks during a press conference held on Monday in Calabar, where she addressed the ongoing dispute regarding the accreditation of engineering programs at the institution.
The Vice Chancellor strongly dismissed COREN’s claims that UniCal was running unaccredited engineering courses, stating that the engineering programs were only in their third year and were scheduled for NUC accreditation in November 2023.
Prof. Obi revealed that when COREN approached UniCal for accreditation of their engineering courses, she advised them to wait until after the NUC accreditation process, which was set for November/December.
She further explained that UniCal had successfully passed COREN’s engineering resource verification when they visited the institution. However, she emphasised that NUC’s accreditation took precedence since the university was primarily supervised by NUC, not COREN.
Regarding the status of engineering students, the Vice Chancellor clarified that UniCal had not yet graduated any engineering students. The engineering program was relatively new and required NUC verifications. The first accreditation by NUC was scheduled for November/December 2023.
Prof. Obi assured parents and students that UniCal had received approval to initiate five out of seven approved programs in 2020. These programs were set to undergo their initial accreditation in November/December 2023, and the university was fully prepared to host the NUC teams as scheduled.
She emphasised the pivotal role of NUC as the supervising agency for universities and stated that professional bodies like COREN should focus on licensing professionals once NUC had approved the program’s quality and content.
