A team from the Estate Surveyors and Valuers’ Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) on accreditation assignment to the Department of Estate Management, Covenant University, has commended the overall state of the programme as it pertains to training professionals.
The leader of the four-man team, Professor Bamidele Ogunleye, made this known during a presentation of a summary exit report of the team’s 3-day accreditation exercise to the department.
Professor Ogunlelye said the team was impressed with the strict adherence to admission policy as it relates to the basic requirement for admission into the programme. According to him, the academic curriculum of the programme is adequate in content and meets the minimum standards of ESVARBON, as well as the readiness of the department to embrace the newly introduced National Universities Commission (NUC) Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (C-CMAS).
He noted that the team did a review of examination questions from the last 4 years, marked scripts and a marking guide spanning the last three academic sessions, and all met the expectations of the Board. "We also noted that the Departmental Board of Examiners’ meeting for consideration of examination results is being held regularly. This is commendable and should be sustained," he added.
Professor Ogunleye appreciated the quality of capable and qualified external examiners that have moderated questions over the past 4 academic sessions, noting that they were academically and professionally qualified to carry out such moderation.
On students’ projects and dissertations, the team applauded the excellence and standardised approach to the project work of the students. They said the projects had a good range of titles in the multidisciplinary aspects of the profession, with each project accompanied by a Turn-It-In Report.
The team applauded the University Management for putting in place the requisite facilities to make learning and research possible, as the relationships seen between students and staff were cordial and convivial. "The environment is a tremendous one; it is conducive to teaching, research, and creative intellectual engagement," Professor Ogunleye posited.
Responding, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olujide Adekeye, commended the team for the thoroughness injected into the assignment. He noted that the biggest room in the world, including academic pursuit, is that of improvement, and assured the accreditation team of Management’s readiness to consider recommendations made by the team in the quest to reposition the programme for greater subscription to the programme.
Professor Adekeye decried the unbalanced subject combination outline in secondary schools as one of the greatest impediments to growing students’ subscription to certain programmes, and hoped regulatory bodies like the NUC and ESVARBON would work at correcting the challenge. "I hope NUC, ESVARBON, and other bodies can work together to resolve this problem by sensitising schools so that intending applicants can have a clearer picture of what the basic admission requirements are," he added.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor appreciated the leadership of ESVARBON for the academic resources donated to the department and promised that the University is ready to continually update existing databases and resources in the University Centre for Learning Resources.
Earlier in the week during a courtesy visit to the university management by the team, the Director, Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Professor Omotayo Osibanjo, representing the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abiodun H. Adebayo, had assured them of unfettered access to scrutinize the academic resources and facilities available in the department.
Professor Osibanjo said the management of Covenant University recognised the importance of peer review exercises by both regulatory agencies and professional bodies, thus the commitment to always ensure that accreditation and resources verification activities are carried out with open-mindedness towards improving on existing processes.
Present at the presentation of the exit report of the team were the Registrar, Mrs. Regina Tobi-David; Director, Financial Services, Pastor Gbenga Kiki; Director, Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Professor Omotayo Osibanjo; Head, Department of Architecture, Professor Oluwatayo Adedapo, representing the Dean, College of Science and Technology; and a representative of the Director, Centre for Learning Resources, Pastor Ifijeh Goodluck.
Others are: Head, Department of Estate Management, Professor Muyiwa Ajibola; Professor Chukwuemeka Iroham; and Professor Caleb Ayedun.