The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), has ordered compulsory registration of university and polytechnic engineering students.
The COREN President, Engineer Ali Rabiu, who disclosed this at a news conference on the outcome of the third quarter council meeting for 2020 held in Abuja over the weekend, said the development would enable COREN to monitor the undergraduates and at the same time, facilitate long term planning for engineering regulation and training.
Rabiu said the council had further instituted the Outcome Based Education (OBE) in order to have a benchmark for the Nigerian engineering education system and accreditation standards to be in line with global practices.
“In order to effectively implement the Outcome-Based Education system (OBE) and the Presidential Order 5, the Council is in the process of indexing Engineering undergraduates in all COREN accredited universities and polytechnics and technical institution in Nigeria wherein all engineering undergraduates, upon admission will be required to register with COREN.
“This will enable COREN monitor the process of the undergraduates and also facilitate long term planning for engineering regulation and training’’, he said
He, however, disclosed that the council registered 67, 548 engineering practitioners in the country as at September 25, 2020.
According to him, the categories of the practitioners are Engineers – 56,752, Engineering Technologists 5,612, Engineering Technicians 871, Engineering Craftsmen 2,703 and Expatriates 1,610
He said the council ensured that all engineering practitioners and firms were certified through the registration and licensing processes, adding that a total of 1,494 engineering firms were also registered during the period.
The COREN Vice President, Dr Clifford Nwoji, while explaining further on the OBE, said the council saw the need to intervene in the training processes of engineers.
He said COREN could not leave the number of students admitted into institutions to the schools alone to ensure qualitative teaching.