The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has commenced a quality assurance and accreditation exercise at Crown Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, as part of efforts to assess the institution’s Mass Communication programme and determine its compliance with required academic and professional standards.
The NBTE officials were received by the Rector of the institution, Dr. Kolawole Ajisola, alongside other members of the management team.
The team of the National Board for Technical Education on arrival had a closed door meeting with the Polytechnic for about an hour before proceeding to the department of Mass Communication designed to take off soon.
Sections inspected were the editing room, TV studio, Radio studio, Photography, audio visual room, computer laboratories and Public Relations and advertising, teaching rooms amongst others with the level of staff strength and academic qualifications were scrutinized.
Speaking to journalists, the Team Leader and Acting South-West Director of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr. John Onyebuchi, who represented the Executive Secretary of the Board, Professor Idris Muhammad Bugaje, said the team was at the institution to assess the facilities and requirements for the smooth take-off of the National Diploma (ND) programme in Mass Communication.
Dr. Onyebuchi described Mass Communication as a versatile discipline with diverse areas of specialisation and skills, stressing the importance of providing students with the requisite knowledge and practical skills to thrive in the profession.
”We are here so that they can start on a good footnote and if they start well that means they well end well. We are here to see if Crown polytechnic has the number of equipment needed and quality resource persons, Mass Communication is loaded with lots of studios and it has be well equipped so that their graduates would be able to compete anywhere in Nigeria and beyond.”
Dr Onyebuchi who noted that Polytechnic education differs from Universities education in terms of equipment and practicals, said their visit was to ensure competency and that crown Polytechnic has the needed standard to secure full accreditation of Mass Communication programme.
The team leader, expressed satisfaction on the academic programmes being run at the institution said the outcome of their assessment would be made known after the exercise.
Rector, Crown Polytechnic, Dr Kolawole Ajisola said required facilities have been provided to ensure a smooth take off and expressed optimism that the accreditation process would be successful.
Dr. Ajisola added that students who enroll for the Mass Communication programme would have the opportunity of being trained by highly-qualified tutors, including seasoned academics at the department and experts who are drawn from the industry.
The Rector of the Polytechnic said that all the 28 programmes currently offered by the institution had been duly accredited, adding that the approval of the Mass Communication programme would further enhance the institution’s academic profile
