The National Universities Commission (NUC) Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, has disclosed that the “Pass Degree” had become irrelevant in the Nigerian Universities System (NUS) during the monthly press luncheon, held on Thursday, 5th March, 2015, at the Rockview Hotel, Abuja.
Prof. Okojie stated that the decision to abolish the “Pass Degree”, which was not a Honours degree, was not a unilateral decision by the NUC, rather it was reached at a Stakeholders’ Consultative Workshop in 2003, which was convened to discuss the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) and implementation of the course credit system.
Prof. Okojie stated that the decision to abolish the “Pass Degree”, which was not a Honours degree, was not a unilateral decision by the NUC, rather it was reached at a Stakeholders’ Consultative Workshop in 2003, which was convened to discuss the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) and implementation of the course credit system.
As a result of the consultation, the minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) was set as 1.5, consistent with the course credit system.
The NUC Scribe noted that the Consultative Workshop also reached a decision to abolish the semester system where a student who failed to meet up the CGPA requirement was given an opportunity to carry the courses he/she
failed over to the next academic year, rather than reseat the examinations in same academic year.
The NUC Scribe noted that the Consultative Workshop also reached a decision to abolish the semester system where a student who failed to meet up the CGPA requirement was given an opportunity to carry the courses he/she
failed over to the next academic year, rather than reseat the examinations in same academic year.
He said that the new system placed the students on probation to serve as a warning and give them room to improve on their performances, adding that any student who still could not meet up was allowed to transfer to another department where he/she could perform better and graduate with better grades, rather than a pass.
The Executive Secretary said that the stakeholders’ decision was not a recent one, only that it had not been implemented by some universities.
He said that in today’s competitive world, “a Pass Degree” would not get a graduate a job and it was to help these students that some universities had removed the “E” letter grade and stopped issuing “Pass Degrees” all in a bid to improve the level of Nigerian education and in turn make our graduates and certificates compete elsewhere in the world, the idea being that there was no point issuing a graduate an irrelevant certificate.
Okojie added that the decision was not retroactive and that those with a “Pass Degree” before now could continue with it in any area they wanted to venture into.
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