A four-man National Universities Commission (NUC) Accreditation Panel is currently assessing facilities at the Mass Communication Department of the Plateau State University (PLASU), Bokkos , for the purpose of granting it full accreditation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that before commencing its assignment on Monday, the Prof. Danjuma Gambo-led panel paid a courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Yohana Izam, in his office.
Izam, while welcoming the panel, said the exercise was a quality assurance mechanism to ensure standards were not compromised.
“PLASU has made frantic efforts to upgrade its facilities in the Mass Communication Department in spite of COVID-19 challenges and the local strikes.
“The university has moved the department to a better and more spacious environment within the Faculty of Social Sciences complex.
“Already, a new Mass Communication complex is under construction but for the slow pace of work occasioned by COVID-19 and other factors, it would have been completed,” the vice chancellor said.
Gambo, who is from Bayero University, Kano (BUK), said that the panel’s visit was a pure academic exercise with peer review and quality assurance as its main objectives.
He said that the team would inspect facilities at the department before interacting with staff and students after which it would come up with an objective analysis.
NAN reports that other members of the panel are Prof. Sunny Udeze from Enugu State University and Prof. Olusola Oyero from Anchor University, Lagos, while Mr Gabriel Aborele represented the NUC on the panel.
Mass Communication is one of three programmes in PLASU seeking full accreditation from the NUC.
The other programmes are Biochemistry and Geography which were granted interim accreditation by the NUC in 2018. (NAN)
