ATBU, COREN train academic staff, others in Bauchi state

The Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) in Bauchi state in collaboration with Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), have organised a two-day workshop for North-East universities’ staff on ‘Outcome Based Education’ (OBE).

Speaking during the commencement of the training for the 120selected participants in Bauchi on Friday, the Vice Chancellor ATBU, Professor Muhammad AbdulAzeez, said the training was meant for both academic and non academic staff of Faculty of Engineering in all the Universities of the North-East.

According to him, the Outcome-Based Education is an approach to education that prioritised learning outcomes over the traditional approach of focusing on rote memorization.

He explained that the focus was to develop essential skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving rather than simply learning facts.

“Today, our educational system needs to be more focused on producing graduates who are equipped with the skills needed to be successful in the workforce.

“Outcome-Based Education can help ensure that we are producing graduates with the necessary skills, as well as the knowledge, to be successful in today’s world.

“It is thus our belief that Outcome-Based Education will help to create a more equitable educational system by focusing on essential skills that would ensure all students, regardless of their background or educational history, have the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for success,” he said.

Also speaking, the Registrar of COREN, Professor Ademola Adisa, said the main goal of the workshop was to train the participants to acquire knowledge and skills of Outcome-Based Education so as to train others in its implementation in Nigeria universities.

He added that Outcome-Based Education is an approach to education that focused on specific attributes in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitude that must be exhibited by graduating students, adding that the workshop was for the North-East zone.

He listed the regions where such a workshop had taken place as; Ahmadu Bello University for the Northwest, University of Benin for the South-South, Enugu state University for the South-East.

Others, he said, included University of Abuja for the North Central, University of Ibadan and Afe Babalola University for the South-West.

“The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria is a statutory organ of the federal government of Nigeria that was established by decree Number 5 of 1970 and amended by decree Number 27 of 1992.

“COREN has the mandate to regulate and control the practice of Engineering in all aspects and ramifications.

“At the education level, on behalf of the federal government of Nigeria, COREN determines the academic standards of courses and accredited programmes to be offered by the institutions that are training engineering personnel,” he said.

One of the participants, Mr Abdulrasak Kamal, appreciated the University and COREN for the training and promised to participate wholeheartedly in the training exercise.