Engineering programmes to admit students by approved quotas – COREN

The National Universities Commission and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board have approved the enforcement of admission quotas for engineering and technology programmes in Nigerian universities to improve the quality of engineering education and practical training.

The President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, announced the approval on Tuesday during a media briefing ahead of the council’s 34th Engineering Assembly in Abuja.

Abubakar said the approval would ensure universities admit only the number of students their infrastructure, laboratories, workshops, equipment and academic staff can adequately support.

He said, “I am happy to inform the nation that we have finally gotten the approval and endorsement of both the National Universities Commission and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board to enforce admission quotas in all engineering and technology programmes run by Nigerian universities.

“What this means is that the engineering profession has now come to the level of the medical profession, the legal profession, the pharmaceutical profession and similar disciplines where admissions are carefully regulated to ensure quality.

“We are trying to ensure there is a quality training regime at the university level so that we produce competent graduates with stronger hands-on competencies who will not only practise successfully in Nigeria but compete favourably anywhere in the world.”

He described the development as the culmination of decades of advocacy by the engineering profession, noting that unrestricted admissions had overstretched facilities and weakened practical training in many institutions.

“This is going to be a game changer for our country and for the workforce Nigeria is likely going to export globally. Engineering is becoming increasingly global, and our graduates must possess the practical competence required to compete internationally,” he said.

According to him, the council is also working with the National Board for Technical Education to introduce similar admission controls for engineering programmes in polytechnics.

Abubakar disclosed that COREN had reintroduced the indexing and oath-taking of engineering graduates, as well as the mandatory one-year Engineering Residency Programme for degree and Higher National Diploma holders before proceeding for the National Youth Service Corps.

He said the residency programme was designed to provide graduates with structured industrial exposure before they begin their professional careers.

The COREN president also announced that the council had trained and certified 239 engineering infrastructure failure and forensic investigators to investigate engineering failures, including building collapses, bridge failures and industrial accidents.

He added that 839 engineering programme evaluators drawn from academia and industry had also been trained to strengthen accreditation and quality assurance in universities and polytechnics.

Abubakar said the council had intensified compliance inspections nationwide, expanded its regional offices, digitised its registration process and reactivated its disciplinary tribunal as part of efforts to strengthen engineering regulation.

He warned that engineering failures often stem from non-compliance with professional standards.

“We now have a critical mass of engineering infrastructure failure and forensic investigators in Nigeria who are ready to commence this important regulatory assignment.

“The objective is to determine scientifically what went wrong whenever engineering infrastructure fails, identify those responsible and recommend measures that will prevent future occurrences,” he stated.

The COREN president said this year’s Engineering Assembly, themed “Advancing Public Safety in Nigeria Through Strategic Engineering Regulation, Enforcement and Tiered Sanctioning Regime,” would focus on strengthening engineering governance and reducing infrastructure failures across the country.