The National Universities Commission(NUC) has granted Cosmopolitan University, Abuja, a permanent operational licence after completing its three-year probationary period.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu, presented the licence to the university management on at the NUC headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.
Ribadu said the university was assessed on its academic processes, staff, students and facilities during the probation.
He explained that the probationary licence is like an examination where an institution either graduates to a full licence or loses the approval.
“During your probational period, you were judged, you were monitored, because it’s like you took an exam, actually. A committee went to verify your processes, your students, your staff and everything.
‘ The idea was either to recommend a full license for you or withdraw the existing one because something has to happen after three years. So, after three years, you either graduate to get the full license or you don’t. But of course, in some cases it’s not all of you that were examined passed,” he said.
According to him, some universities that failed to meet the required standards were given one-year extensions to remedy deficiencies identified, considering the investments already made.
He charged the management of Cosmopolitan University to build on its foundation and avoid compromising quality in staff recruitment and student enrolment.
“This is just the beginning because it’s now that you have a solid foundation. Now, you are a university and not just a probationary period. You now have to build on the structures that you have started, which means in terms of quality, you should not compromise in terms of recruitment of staff, and number of students. As a private university, you should have a benchmark, you should have standard,” he said.
Cosmopolitan University was among the 37 private universities granted operational licences on May 15, 2023, by the administration of late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
In his response, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Carl Adams, described the permanent licence as momentous for the institution.
He said it was a recognition of the quality and transparent processes put in place to deliver quality education.
“This is a recognition of the quality processes and transparency processes that we have put in place to develop quality education for our students,” Adams said.
He added that the licence shows the university is moving in the right direction by building on best practices from the United Kingdom, the United States and Nigeria.
