NUC says Nigerians pursue degrees at ‘mushroom’ varsities across Africa

The National Universities’ Commission (NUC) on Tuesday condemned the purported establishment of mushroom universities in some African countries targeting Nigerian students.

The NUC Executive Secretary, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, said universities in many African countries produce degree holders in less than two years.

Rasheed stated this while speaking at the 11th International Conference and Workshop on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, held in Abuja.

“We are pained when we are confronted by employers of labour in this country trying to get us to interpret qualifications,” the NUC chief said.

“Unfortunately, some of our sister countries allow universities to be established for nationals of other countries and when we write to some of these countries, the reply we get is that the institutions are legally registered.

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“There have been reports of many Nigerians who go to Ghana, Togo, and many other African countries to study in mushroom universities.”

The NUC secretary said anybody who acquires a university degree in less than three years would not be recognised in Nigeria, adding that many of them who returned to the country for the one year compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme were rejected.

The conference was declared open by the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who lamented that despite the growth of higher education in Nigeria, access to qualitative university education is still formidable.

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