HND to university degree conversion scheme rejected by NUC

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has rejected a programme being organised by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) on converting a Higher National Diploma (HND) to a university’s degree. The NUC described the purported one-year top-up degree programme in Nigerian polytechnics as a “ruse” and an “action intended to deceive students”.

The Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Chris Maiyaki, said this in a statement on Saturday, October 14, 2023, stating that the existing difference between first degree and HND had not been removed even as universities and polytechnics had their own distinct programmes, which would make such a conversion scheme impossible.

He advised the public and all relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to note that the NUC is not involved in and, indeed, dissociates itself from the so-called Top-up Scheme, being planned by the NBTE.

The statement said that the National Universities Commission (NUC) was aware of the news (online) that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has officially launched a one-year top-up degree programme in Nigerian polytechnics to enable holders of the Higher National Diploma (HND) to upgrade their certificates to the first degree with foreign accredited universities.

The online news, according to the statement, was attributed to the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, and the Board’s Head of Media Unit, Mrs. Fatima Abubakar, who said that the action was in line with the advocacy for the elimination of the existing gap between degree holders and HND graduates in their various workplaces and to enhance the beneficiaries’ chances for further studies.

Maiyaki said the role of technical education globally was special, saying that in most higher education systems, polytechnics co-exist alongside universities for the purposes of producing essential human resources, based on their peculiarities and in accordance with the objectives for which they were established.

It stated that the university degree awarded by the Nigerian University System or any related institution is not the same as the HND awarded by Polytechnics in Nigeria. He said that at the post-graduate level, the requirements for admission into any master’s degree programme in Nigerian universities for candidates with HND are, among others, obtaining a postgraduate diploma (PGD) from a recognised university in an area relevant to that for which the master’s admission is being sought.