HND Certificate finally scrapped, now equivalent with Varsity First Degrees

Polytechnic Students and products across the Nigeria can now laugh out loud, have a fresh breath as well as being fulfilled after schooling as the Federal Government has put an end to the longstanding dichotomy between university and polytechnic graduates in the country by finally scrapping the award of Higher National Diploma [HND] certificates by polytechnics.

This decision was announced after last week’s Federal Executive Council [FEC] meeting in Abuja, which approved a comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu said, “There will be no more award of HND” but that “the HND certificate will remain legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificate will continue to be recognised as equivalent of first degree holders without discriminatory remunerations or limit to progression in work place.”

The minister said when the last set of current students in all HND programmes graduate, there will be no further admission into HND programmes. Furthermore, non-technical courses which currently constitute about 70 percent of their academic programmes will be taken out of polytechnics. This decision to remove courses that are not technology-based from polytechnics is apt and will reposition them to actualize their core mandate.

The new policy stipulates that polytechnics will now become campuses of proximate universities with the Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing rectors for the polytechnics affiliated to them, subject to ratification by their Governing Councils. Polytechnics shall henceforth be limited to the award of National Diploma [ND] while qualified candidates desirous of further education will be awarded a Bachelor of Technology [B. Tech] degree by a proximate university.

To begin the implementation of the new policy, the nation’s two most prominent polytechnics, Yaba College of Technology and Kaduna Polytechnic will from now be known as City University of Technology, Yaba and City University of Technology, Kaduna. FEC has approved the submission of two executive bills to the National Assembly on these reforms. While the first bill will concretise the setting up of the two city universities, the second will seek approval for the consolidation of all federal polytechnics and colleges of education as campuses of proximate universities.

Adamu further said a ministerial committee to ensure the smooth implementation of the reforms will begin work immediately. He said the Federal Ministry of Education [FME] under the reform measures would continue to license private polytechnics and colleges of education for the award of ND and the Nigerian Certificate in Education, NCE.

However, states that do not wish to follow the federal pattern will continue to have their programmes regulated by relevant agencies of the FME.

The minister further declared that “any higher qualifications by private or state-owned polytechnics will only be in affiliation with a university.” For consistency, we advise governors to consolidate the academic programmes in their tertiary institutions in accordance with the new reform guidelines since all states in Nigeria have either their own universities or a federal university.

Scrapping of HND has finally laid to rest several unresolved questions on the belaboured dichotomy between university graduates and HND holders. These include a court case filed at the National Industrial Court, Abuja, by HND holders working in the nation’s public sector, who are challenging the discrimination in career progression. Existing rules in the public service do not provide for an HND holder to rise beyond Grade Level [GL] 14 as against university graduates whose promotions extend up to GL 17, the career peak in the civil service.

The new policy has also set aside the differing position of the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU] whose leadership had always argued that HND isn’t the same as and cannot be equivalent to a university degree.