No More HND in Polytechnics? What You Must Know

There has been news about this for a while. The Federal Government was trying every possible mechanism to bridge the gap between HND and BSC. The dichotomy has been an issue beyond the resolution of several past administrations.

But finally, the Ministry of Education, under the current administration has succeeded in scraping HND programmes in the federally-owned polytechnics across the nation as a means to achieve this equation.

At the FEC meeting held on the Federal government finally scrapped the 2-year Higher National Diploma course. This was in 2018.

Recommended: HND vs Degree in Nigeria: 3 Ways Out for HND Holders  

Updates on the Discontinuation of HND Programmes

After two years of the pronouncement by the federal government to discontinue the Higher National Diploma across the nation, especially by the Federal-owned polytechnics, the programmes still continue.

In fact, in April 2019, the Nigerian Senate passed a bill seeking to convert polytechnics into degree-awarding institutions, similar to universities. This proposal has been met with mixed reactions and is still being debated by stakeholders in the education sector.

Every polytechnic, be it federal, state, or private, to date, is still selling admission forms for the HND programmes.

It's safe to conclude, therefore, that:

1. Putting an end to the Higher National Diploma programme has not been taken seriously
2. No enforcement of the policy since the time of moving it
3. All polytechnics remain legitimate to run the programme and award the qualification therefor.
4. A few polytechnics are already combining both polytechnic programmes (ND and HND) with degree programs (BSC, B.ED., B. TECH, etc.) on the same campus e.g. YABTACH Lagos, AFIT Kaduna, etc.
5. In the future, this policy may be enforced as expected and if enforced, below is what to expect as concluded at the FEC meeting

Facts on Discontinuation of HND Programmes

Below are the details to take note of:

1. The scrapping will only affect the Federal polytechnics across the nation for now.
2. States had been implored to follow the course (and if they prefer otherwise) or continue as they were used to running their programmes.
3. Polytechnics will henceforth be limited with the award of the National Diploma (ND)
4. Any higher qualifications by these private or state-owned polytechnics will be the only affiliation with a university
5. The Ministry of Justice will do the preparation and submission the bills to the National Assembly.
6. The Ministry of Education will continue to license private polytechnics and colleges of education for the award of qualification at ND and National Certificate in Education (NCE) levels.
7. The current HND students or newly admitted will continue and complete their programmes and be awarded HND but there won’t be new intakes for the Higher National Diploma.
8. When students are done with ND, they will be given admission into universities attached to their polytechnics to continue to earn the award of Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.)
9. The HND certificate will remain a legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificates will continue to be recognized as the equivalent of first-degree holders without discriminatory remunerations and limit to progression in the workplace.
10. The NCE certificate will be retained as the minimum teaching qualification at the basic level of education.
11. Also, all the polytechnic programmes currently being run by polytechnics, which are not technology-based may be discontinued.
12. To kick-start, the new policy, the nation’s two most prominent polytechnics – Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and Kaduna Polytechnic – will henceforth be known as the City University of Technology, Yaba and City University of Technology, Kaduna respectively.

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