The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has granted approval to the newly established Ekiti State College of Agriculture and Technology, Isan-Ekiti, to commence academic programmes in the 2020/2021 session.
The approval is contained in a letter signed by the NBTE’s Director of Polytechnic Programmes, Malam Musa Isgogo, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Thursday.
Isgogo signed the letter on behalf of the board’s Acting Executive Secretary, Ekenyong Ekpenyong.
According to the letter, the board permitted the college to commence academic programmes at the National Diploma (ND) level in accountancy, agriculture technology and computer science.
On institutional administration, NBTE said that the law establishing the college should be amended to enable it to award ND certificates and address other issues bordering on the Governing Council and the Academic Board.
The letter further stated that the approved programmes would be due for full accreditation when the first set of students would be in the fourth semester of their studies.
It, however, explained that it would be the responsibility of the college to invite the NBTE to carry out the full accreditation of the courses.
It added that failure to do so would disqualify the college from making further admission into the programmes.
Meanwhile, the board has denied the college approval to start academic programmes at the ND level in agriculture and bio-environmental engineering technology and electrical and electronic engineering technology.
According to the board, the college was denied approval due to identified deficiencies.
NBTE directed the college to make public its admission requirements and to recruit qualified academics not below the rank of senior lecturer to head some of the departments. (NAN)