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The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has granted accreditation to 37 programs run by the Federal Polytechnic Bida. The Board also approved additional streams for 13 out of the 37 accredited programmes.
According to a letter signed by the Board’s Director of Polytechnic Programmes, Architect Ngbede Ogah and addressed to the Rector, the accreditation would last for a period of five years after which they would be scheduled for reaccreditation.
Reacting to the new development, Rector of the polytechnic, Dr. Abubakar Abdul Dzukogi expressed delight over the outcome of the accreditation exercise and pledged to improve the quality of programmes run by the polytechnic.
He said despite the paucity of funds, the management was able to mobilise resources to ensure that the required equipment were procured for all programmes scheduled for re-accreditation and accreditation.
Dzukogi described it as a landmark achievement that, “for the very first time in recent history, the polytechnic is granted accreditation in all the programmes it presented for accreditation without any hitch.”
He thereby commended the NBTE Executive Secretary, Professor Idris Bugaje and his entire staff for their support and cooperation during the exercise.
He equally acknowledged the efforts of the Director, Academic Planning Unit, Dr. Fashagba Paul Femi, Deans, HODs and other critical stakeholders throughout the period the exercise lasted.
Speaking earlier, the leader of the NBTE’s accreditation team, Dr. Rufai Ibrahim said: “the exercise is a quality assurance one where experts from various fields are assembled to assess the standard of teaching and learning facilities available in the institution.”
In his seperate remarks, the Polytechnic’s Director of Academic Planning, Dr. Femi Paul Fashagba attributed the success of the accreditation exercise to the proper planning and commitment put in place by the management.
“We saw the accreditation coming and we started planning for it since 2020. We took major steps to ensure that when we eventually face it, we were not going to fail any programme,” he noted .
He hinted that the Rector approved the release of over N100 million for direct procurement of equipment and other necessary items to ensure a hitch-free exercise.
Fashagba explained further that a mock accreditation exercise was conducted by the Academic Planning Unit to ascertain the level of preparedness of the departments offering the programmes and to ensure that all equipment were procured, saying that the mock exercise assisted the polytechnic to identify and address its areas of challenge and later accounted for the success of the accreditation exercise.
He pointed out that the approval for additional streams for some of the accredited programmes meant that more students could be admitted into such programmes, thereby translating to increased students’ admission processes, increased participation in National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), as well as providing opportunities for the institution to fulfill its statutory mandate.
While appreciating the Rector of the polytechnic for his support towards the success of the exercise, the Director encouraged staff to continue to put in their best for the continuous success of all programmes run by the polytechnic.
He expressed optimism that the accreditation of programmes would strengthen the institution’s academic standards and position it for better performances in the comity of tertiary institutions in the country.
Meanwhile, the accredited programmes are: ND Computer Engineering Technology, ND and HND Chemical Engineering Technology, ND and HND Electrical Engineering (Electronic and Telecom as well as Power and Machines options), HND Agric and Bio-Environmental Engineering Technology (Farm Power and Machinery, Post-Harvest, and Soil and Water options respectively), ND and HND Building Technology, ND and HND Quantity Surveying, and ND and HND Surveying and Geo-informatics.
Others include ND Architectural Technology, ND Urban and Regional Planning, ND Estate Management and Valuation, ND Tourism Management, ND Agric Technology, ND Horticultural Technology, ND Library and Information Science, HND Public Administration, ND and HND Business Administration, ND and HND Office Technology and Management, HND Nutrition and Dietetics, and HND Statistics.
Furthermore, ND Science Laboratory Technology and seven options for HND Science Laboratory Technology were also accredited.
