NBTE LAUNCHES ONE-YEAR ONLINE PROGRAMMES ON CONVERSION OF HND CERTIFICATES TO BSC
By Aishat Momoh.O.
For holders of Higher National Diplomas (HNDs), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has introduced online programs that allow them to earn bachelor’s degree certifications in just one year.
According to NBTE, the “online top-up” programs are with foreign authorized colleges.
Fatima Abubakar, the Board’s Head of Media, stated that previous attempts to get the National Universities Commission (NUC) to authorize a two-year Master of Technology program for HND holders in various polytechnics failed to materialize.
“Many times HND Holders are forced to go for a one year Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) before they could be admitted into the Master’s Programme in Universities,” the statement partly read.
“The disadvantage of the PGD is that holders who continue to do Ph.D. and wish to migrate to a Nigerian University will always be queried to produce their first degree, even when they have Doctorates.
“To end this unwarranted prejudice, NBTE has now created this progression pathway for HND holders.”
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) mobilization was another issue the Board cited as a problem for HND holders.
“NBTE has now created a HND admission portal for use by all Polytechnics. Only accredited Programmes shall be visible on the portal and NYSC shall have viewing rights to know admitted candidates to be mobilised.
“This will hopefully bring an end to illegal HND admissions of unaccredited Programmes and at the same time ensure carrying capacities are adhered to for quality assurance,” the statement added.
The Board also urged President Bola Tinubu to approve the legislation ending the discrimination against graduates of the polytechnic system by abolishing the HND-BSc dichotomy in the public service as passed by the 9th National Assembly.
See Guidelines Below:
1. You must own a HND certificate in one of the recognised and approved polytechnics and monotechnics.
2. Visit the admission portal https://admission.topup.nbte.gov.ng and log in if you have already created an account.
3. Supply all your details in relation to your HND which you already have.
4. After creating the account you can move ahead to submission of a new application.
5. The university’s programs chosen should align with the technical and vocational fields covered by NBTE.
6. After selecting a course of your choice, you will get the option to select which institute you want to study at and there you can see their program fees followed by a button to even view details about the institute on their institutional profile page.
7. After submitting the form you will see the application status under the ‘my applications’ tab and you can go ahead with the submission of the form fees (USD 100) to enable the university to start processing your admission.
8. You can further go to the payments tab to download your fees receipt for the application form fee payment.
9. After the university has approved your admission, then you can go to my application and download your admission letter.