By Gabriel Dike
The Federal Ministry of Education (FME) has given approval to International Centre for Psychometric (IPCentre) to run Psychometrics as a course in tertiary institutions.
Chairman, governing council of IPCentre, Otunba Abimbola Davis, disclosed this at the unveiling of Genius Magazine, a publication of the centre, to promote Psychometrics as a subject in the country.
Davis also revealed that the centre was working towards introducing the subject in secondary schools nationwide. He said about 100,000 students in tertiary institutions take the course, which is delivered online.
According to him, regulatory agencies such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) have given the IPCentre approval to run the course.
He also disclosed that many tertiary institutions have keyed into the new course and are encouraging students to register for the online programme.
The governing council’s chairman said the new course has not come to take over General Studies but to open a new frontier of knowledge, which is popular abroad.
Otunba Davis explained that IPCentre awards scholarship of N200,000 to best students in Psychometry and that the gesture has attracted more students to take the course online.
“Since we started the scholarship award to students in polytechnics and colleges of education, over 20 students have benefitted from the award and this made many of their colleagues to enroll for the course,” Davis said.
He added: “The primary focus is on the tertiary education. It is designed and integrated as separate course in the academic benchmark for classes in institutions. Efforts are in place to introduce Psychometrics in secondary schools.
“Psychometrics studies are taught by International Psychometrics Centre online in partnership with tertiary institutions. This is done to help students in understanding their learning preferences and gain important insight into personality, motivations, natural strengths and potentials areas of growth.
“IPC is a strategic research centre and the only one in Nigeria facilitating the study of Psychometrics in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Currently, we have over 100 schools and over 100,000 students keyed into the course.”
Davis explained that the centre wants to introduce Psychometrics in secondary schools so that students can write the subject in Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO).
The council chairman said the course is known abroad but new in Nigeria and because of this, the centre rebranded the Genius Magazine to educate people about the importance of the course, adding, “when students enrolled, they realized the importance of the course and many are eager to register.’’
He further revealed that, in September, the centre would unveil a portal, which would host about 10million users and the platform is meant to discover talents.
Davis stressed that no school in the country is teaching students about attitude test, noting, “IPCentre is the only one in Nigeria that is doing so.”
The governing council boss said IPC would soon introduce Psychometrics Club in all tertiary institutions and that it awards scholarship to students who do well in the subject as incentives to encourage others to enroll for the course.”
“Every student knows that, to do well in Psychometrics, there is a reward of N100,000. It costs about $5,000 to study the course abroad but in Nigeria students pay N3,000. As at today, we have awarded 20 scholarships to students.”
He disclosed that the centre would unveil Enterprise Fund for students to access between N10 million to N20 million loan, saying, “we also want to sponsor 10 students for MSc and five PhD on Psychometrics.”
On availability of books for the course, Davis stating, “we don’t have problems with Psychometrics books. There are books written on the course abroad and is available in the centre.”
Speaking specifically on the Genius Magazine, Davis said the management briefed the Board of Trustees chairman, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), about the magazine and why it was rebranded.
Davis said the magazine would feature prominent scholars within Nigeria and abroad that have achieved success in their chosen field of study and also serve as a medium to popularize the course.
“It is a magazine that was introduced to disseminate information about Psychometrics and educational system in general. It is a snapshot of the various activities of the IPCentre and it serves the purpose of reinforcing and allowing increased awareness and improved interaction between the centre and its readers.
“There are only five experts in the field in Nigeria. All these motivated the chairman, governing council of the centre to rebrand the magazine. The magazine serves, as a medium to make people aware of what Psychometrics is all about. It is a specialized magazine with education as its focus,” Davis said.