NBTE Begins Accreditation Exercise At Federal College Of Horticulture, Gombe

The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has commenced a resource inspection and accreditation exercise at the Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin-Kowa, Gombe State.

The exercise, led by the Director of Polytechnic and Allied Programmes Department of the NBTE, Elder Ayo Aroge, covers selected programmes presented for full accreditation, re-accreditation and resource inspection.

The programmes presented for full accreditation include Higher National Diploma (HND) Agribusiness Management, HND Fisheries Technology, HND Science Laboratory Technology (Microbiology), HND Cooperative Economics and Management, National Diploma (ND) Social Development, ND Computer Science, and ND Library and Information Science.

Those presented for re-accreditation are HND Agricultural and Extension Management and HND Pest Management Technology, while HND Science Laboratory Technology (Microbiology), HND Cyber Security and Data Protection, and HND Social Development were presented for resource inspection.

The NBTE team inspected facilities, equipment, manpower and other learning resources across relevant departments. The departments were also required to account for available resources and identify outstanding requirements.

Speaking during the exercise, Aroge expressed confidence in the college’s preparedness and urged the management, departments and relevant units to cooperate fully with the accreditation team.

He said resource persons had been deployed to various departments to facilitate the exercise and ensure that the assessment was conducted efficiently.

The exercise is being conducted under the supervision of the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Prof. Idris Muhammad Bugaje.

Receiving the delegation, the Provost of the college, Dr Umar Abdullahi, said the management had made concerted efforts to meet the standards and requirements set by the regulatory body.

Abdullahi said the institution had invested in the required equipment, facilities and qualified manpower in line with NBTE guidelines, despite the college not currently benefiting from TETFund intervention.

According to him, the facilities and resources provided for the accreditation exercise were funded through the college’s internal allocation.

At the end of the inspection, the NBTE team commended the college management for what it described as remarkable upgrades and improvements across various areas of the institution.

The team, however, identified some minor outstanding requirements that must be addressed to bring the programmes to the optimal standard required for accreditation.

Responding to the observations, the Provost assured the team that the college would address the outstanding requirements within the shortest possible time.

He also appreciated the NBTE delegation for its professionalism and cooperation with staff throughout the exercise.