The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has clarified that the new online top-up program, which allows Higher National Diploma (HND) holders to acquire a Bachelor’s Degree within a year through foreign accredited universities, is not designed for all HND holders. The program is specifically designed for HND holders who are interested in pursuing an academic career.
Haliya Fatima Abubakar, the Head of the NBTE’s Media Unit, provided this clarification in a statement released in Abuja on Tueday.
The statement quoted Prof. Idris Bugaje, the Chief Executive of the NBTE, who emphasized that the top-up program is aimed at HND holders who have aspirations to further their careers in an academic environment, particularly in the fields of teaching and research within polytechnics or universities.
“This top-up is an alternative to the Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) offered by Nigerian Universities.
“In a democracy such as ours, HND holders should be allowed to make a choice between PGD and the top-up to BSc,” he said.
He said the clarification came on the heels of misunderstandings about the programme in a section of the media, NAN said.
According to him, the top-up is not bringing an end to HND programmes in Polytechnics but rather provides choice to HND holders wanting to go for an academic career.
“The choice of starting it with foreign universities is to show its universal acceptability perchance the Nigerian universities may eventually buy into it in due course.
“The cost is reasonable, just about 10 per cent of what regular face-to-face students pay.
“NBTE has come up with the programme to enable interested Polytechnic HND holders to be at par with their counterparts with Bachelor’s degree holders.
