The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) says it is collaborating with universities in Egypt to initiate Medical Mobility Exchange programmes to address low carrying capacity of medical education studies.
The Secretary-General of CVCNU, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu said made this known in Abuja, while speaking with newsmen on the partnership with the Association of African Universities (AAU), specifically universities in Egypt.
Ochefu said that the overall carrying capacity for medical education in Nigerian universities was less than eight per cent in demand.
According to him, in 2019 over 436,799 candidates applied to study medicine in Nigerian universities with only 30,111 spaces available.
“At the level of National Universities Commission (NUC), JAMB, Nigerian Medical Council of Nigeria and individual universities, vice chancellors are worried about this development which may become a crisis.
“The issue is very alarming and the committee of vice chancellors have decided to do something about it,” Ochefu said.
He said that the situation necessitated its partnership with universities in Egypt and the use of road map on medical mobility exchange programmes provided by the AAU.
“So, we are working with the AAU through their North African Regional office and in partnership with the government of Egypt to initiate medical mobility exchange programmes between Egyptian universities and Nigerian universities.
“As you may know, the Egyptians have helped in the past to set up several medical schools in Nigeria such as in Maiduguri, Kano and Sokoto States.
“We are now trying to extend that relationship to as many universities as possible.
“We are working with them for exchange and training of staff, exchange of learning materials and exchange of post graduate students in medical studies.
“We believe that with the help of the Egyptians, we should be able to substantially reduce the dreadful figure in the next five years,” Ochefu said.
On the need to domesticate Intellectual Property in the Nigerian University System, the CVCNU Sec-Gen. said that the committee was working with the Nigerian Copy Right Commission (NCRC) to develop intellectual property model and intellectual property policy that would guide its use in the universities.
“When we had our base line study, we discovered that as at 2019 less than 10 per cent of universities have policies on intellectual property that had been domesticated by their various university senates.
“The few who had, did not domesticate it at the world intellectual property portal where everybody checks to confirm intellectual property.
“The committee is working with the commission to put a team together to develop intellectual property model and intellectual property policy that we can share with our members to be able to domesticate the policy as well as take the work to the world intellectual property portal,” Ochefu said. (NAN)