FG pegs carrying capacity of 9 new varsities at 500 students

THE Federal Government has pegged the carrying capacity of the nine newly established federal universities at 500 students per session.The new federal universities created by President Goodluck Jonathan across the six geopolitical zones are in Kogi, Taraba, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Ekiti, Nasarawa and Katsina states.Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai, speaking with newsmen after declaring open a two-day retreat for vice chancellors and registrars of the newly approved fourth generation federal universities, expressed the need to have a trim number of studentsin the universities in order to regulate the product of the institutions.She urged the vice- chancellors to ensure strict compliance with the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) guidelines on the carrying capacity of the universities set up as specialised institutions, saying, we really want to have control so that we can have more effective teaching and quality graduates in these institutions.The issue of carrying capacity is a directive because we do not intend to have more than we can carry. Actually, we want to start with 100 or 200 per session so that by the time the universities are on full stream, we do not intend to have more than 500 students per session,the minister declared.President Jonathan had approved the appointments of vice-chancellors and registrars for the newly established universities while a committee headed by the executive secretary of the NUC, Professor Julius Okojie, was inaugurated to develop the Academic Brief and Physical Master Plan of the universities.
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