UniAbuja reacts to COREN’s allegation on accreditation of engineering courses

The University of Abuja has said it received full accreditation of its Chemical Engineering and Civil Engineering programmes with interim accreditation of its Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering programmes.

The Acting Director, Information and University Relations, of the university, Dr Habib Yakoob, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday.
Yakoob was responding to the Council of the Regulation on Engineering (COREN) on the status of its engineering programmes.

“The attention of the management of University of Abuja has been drawn to recent media reports attributed to the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Engr. Adisa Bello,on the status of some Engineering programmes in the University of Abuja.

“The management finds this statement misleading, and an attempt to undermine the integrity of our engineering programmes.

“It is important to note that in 2015, having undergone rigorous review process by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and COREN, the University of Abuja received full accreditation of its chemical engineering and civil engineering programmes.

“This is as well as interim accreditation of its electrical engineering and mechanical engineering programmes,” he said.

Yakoob said since the accreditation, the university had successfully graduated numerous students, many of who had made significant contributions in their respective fields to national development.

“It is true that COREN wrote a couple of times requesting to visit the University for the purpose of “Outcome Based Education (OBE) accreditation of chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering.

“Their inconsideration for the challenges faced by the University of Abuja for several months occasioned by strike actions and the outbreak of COVID-19 is to say the least upsetting.

“Let it be known that the University of Abuja has never shied away from exposing its facilities to regulatory bodies, more so when a lot of rapid infrastructural and academic developments have been taking place in the University for some time now,” he said.

He added that the university, a couple of weeks ago received approval of three of its engineering programmes,-Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Architecture and Agricultural Engineering from NUC.

He said the programmes were approved, along with 23 others presented by the university during the resource verification exercise of the NUC.

“The University of Abuja acknowledges the importance of accreditation as a means to ensuring that our engineering graduates meet the necessary professional qualifications and standards.

“We believe that as a professional body, COREN should develop a better mechanism of relating with universities.

“The management expresses sincere gratitude to students, staff, alumni, parents, and the wider community for their unwavering supports over the unfortunate comments by COREN about the status of the engineering programmes and its threat to blacklist the university.

“As we continue to provide high-quality education, comprehensive support services, and opportunities for personal and professional growth in all our programmes, we appeal to everyone to remain calm and reinforce their belief in the integrity, professionalism and standards of the university,” he said.