UNIOSUN Academic Programmes Hit 128 as VC Tells FG to Harmonise Dual Regulation

The Osun State University (UNIOSUN) has grown its academic programmes from 66 at inception to 128, while its student population has increased from 14,680 to 42,780, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Odunayo Clement Adebooye has disclosed.

Adebooye made the disclosure at the institution's 16th convocation ceremony held on Thursday at the university's main campus in Osogbo, where he presented a comprehensive account of the university's remarkable transformation under his leadership. According to him, the number of postgraduate programmes had also increased from 99 to 299, adding that the university had secured 75 international grants, a clear indication of the institution's growing academic and research profile.

The Vice-Chancellor expressed appreciation to all stakeholders who had contributed to the university's growth, urging the university community to sustain its commitment to excellence. He also commended Governor Ademola Adeleke for his support and contributions to the development of the university, noting that the institution had continued to expand in infrastructure, academic offerings, and research output. Adebooye further commended the lecturer of the day and Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, for his positive contributions to the growth and development of universities across the country.

Delivering the convocation lecture, Ogundipe called for the urgent harmonisation of Nigeria's dual regulatory system for university education, describing the existing arrangement as structurally necessary but operationally dysfunctional. He argued that the system required better regulation rather than less regulation, stressing that the regulatory framework must place the interests of students and the public at the centre of its operations. According to him, the NUC and professional regulatory bodies have overlapping mandates that must be thoroughly examined to eliminate inefficiencies and reduce the burden on universities and their students.

"Quality assurance must remain non-negotiable but could become counterproductive when multiple regulators impose inconsistent requirements and duplicate processes, leaving universities and students to bear the consequences," Ogundipe warned. He noted that the two systems had co-existed for decades until the rapid expansion of universities from the 1990s exposed structural tensions and increased the cost of regulation. He identified major challenges including conflicts over curriculum ownership, uncoordinated accreditation timelines and costs, as well as gaps between NUC minimum academic standards and professional practice standards.

Ogundipe revealed that some departments had been forced to restructure programmes to meet NUC benchmarks, only to face additional requirements from professional regulatory councils, resulting in repeated restructuring, financial pressure, and the diversion of academic staff time away from teaching and research. He urged university authorities to move from reactive to proactive engagement with regulators, declaring that vice-chancellors, pro-chancellors, and governing council members were not passive recipients of regulatory policy but had both the opportunity and the duty to lead its transformation.

He called on the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, in partnership with the Association of Private Universities and the Committee of Pro-Chancellors, to adopt coordinated advocacy for system-wide regulatory reform. Ogundipe proposed a six-point implementation agenda, including the establishment of a national task group comprising the NUC, professional regulators, and university representatives to identify overlapping programme requirements. He also called for the development of unified regulatory matrices for affected disciplines, the enforcement of student-protection protocols through early public disclosure of accreditation status, and enforceable remediation plans. Other proposals included institutionalising regulatory intelligence through dedicated quality-assurance structures linked to the Senate, Management, and Governing Council, using collective advocacy to make regulatory harmonisation a national higher-education policy priority, and strengthening proactive institutional planning.

Ogundipe emphasised that accreditation preparation should become part of routine university operations rather than a crisis-management exercise, adding that a proactive approach would reduce costs, ease the burden on academic staff, and ensure that quality assurance genuinely enhances rather than impedes the delivery of quality education. He praised the graduating students and described UNIOSUN as evidence that a state-owned university could secure rigorous accreditations and produce graduates capable of making meaningful contributions to society.

The 16th convocation ceremony also marked the graduation of pioneer students from several academic programmes introduced by the institution, including Cyber Security, Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Criminology and Security Studies, and International Relations and Diplomacy. The event underscored UNIOSUN's evolution from a young state university into a comprehensive institution with a diverse portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes spanning agriculture, arts, education, engineering, health sciences, law, management sciences, and pure sciences. As the university continues its upward trajectory, the call for regulatory harmonisation from one of the country's most senior education administrators signals a growing consensus that Nigeria's quality assurance framework must evolve to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding tertiary education sector.