Olril18:
why are my Being daf.t and stupi.d...so becos u are teaching unilag students,thats how it is evererywhere,and how does that make hnd equal first degree certificate.....u are arguing like someone who has huge inferiority complex....

piroskey94: no no no no no no no no!!! its chelsea(Phd), man u(Bsc) and arsenal(school cert) hahahahahaha, abeg na joke i dey o b4 some ppl go begin bombard me with wetin pass my power. #runsouttathisplace

omega2128: On the Parity of Esteem Between
Polytechnics and Universities
By Farooq A. Kperogi
If you are a university graduate who has been
socialized to disdain polytechnics as inferior
higher education institutions, think about this:
Albert Einstein, the world’s most renowned
physicist and one of the most influential thinkers
of all time, graduated from the Zurich Polytechnic (now called the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology Zurich) in 1900 with a diploma in
mathematics and physics. Unlike in Nigeria, his diploma wasn’t a handicap
to his pursuit of advanced degrees. He studied
for and earned his Ph.D. in experimental physics
from the University of Zurich, five years after his
diploma. If a polytechnic produced one of the world’s
greatest thinkers, why are polytechnics so low
on the totem pole of post-secondary education in
Nigeria? Why do we reserve ice-cold derision for
polytechnic qualifications? Well, the answer lies in the different philosophies
that informed the establishment of polytechnics
in different countries. In the United States, as I
pointed out last week, “polytechnic universities”
and “institutes of technology” are, and have
always been, similar in rank and structure to conventional universities. So they don’t have the
reputational baggage that our polytechnics have. But the UK tradition of polytechnic education,
which we inherited in Nigeria, intended for
polytechnics to be no more than intermediate
technical and vocational schools to train
technologists and lowbrow, middle-level
manpower. So their mandate limited them to offer sub-degree courses in engineering and
applied sciences. In time, however, they ventured into the
humanities and the social sciences and then
sought to be equated with universities. This
request was grudgingly granted only after the
British government set up the Council for
National Academic Awards (CNAA)—composed wholly of people from the universities—to
examine and validate the quality of polytechnic
qualifications. However, in spite of this elaborate institutional
quality control (which had no equivalent for
universities) the higher national diploma (HND)
was treated as only the equivalent of a
bachelor’s degree “without honors.” In university administration lingo, only a “pass”
degree—the lowest possible rank in British
degree classification— is considered a degree
“without honors.” This means that first-class,
upper-second-class, lower-second-class and
third-class degrees have “honors” and that the HND is only equivalent to a “pass” degree. That’s why, traditionally, British universities did
not— and still do not— admit HND graduates to
master’s degree programs (even if they had a
distinction in their diploma) without first
requiring them to undergo a one-year remedial
postgraduate diploma program— just like people with “pass” degrees must undergo a remedial
program before being admitted to master’s
degree programs. This invidious discrimination against polytechnic
graduates and manifestly preferential treatment
of university graduates, often called the “Binary
Divide” in UK higher education parlance,
predictably gave rise to pervasive feelings of
deep and bitter anger and ill-will in the system. So in 1992, under the Further and Higher
Education Act, the “binary divide” was abolished
and all the 35 polytechnics in the UK were
elevated to universities and given powers to
award bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees.
There are no more polytechnics in the UK. Most other countries with British-style binary
divides also eliminated the distinction between
polytechnics and universities to varying degrees.
In Australia, polytechnics were elevated to
“universities of technology” in the 1990s. Hong
Kong, a former British colony like Nigeria, upgraded its two polytechnics—The Hong Kong
Polytechnic and the City Polytechnic of Hong
Kong — to universities in 1994 and 1995
respectively. New Zealand also merged all its polytechnics
with existing universities and allowed only one
— Auckland University of Technology (formerly
the Auckland Institute of Technology)—to
transmute to a full-fledged university in the
1990s. Greece abolished its polytechnics and upgraded them to universities in 2001. In South
Africa, from 2004, polytechnics were either
merged with universities or upgraded to
“universities of technologies” although with
limited rights and privileges. In Germany, polytechnics can now, in addition to
diplomas, award bachelor’s and master’s degrees
in technical and vocational subjects (and in some
humanities and social science courses such as
communication studies, business and
management, etc) but cannot award PhDs. In Sierra Leone, where polytechnic education
began only in 2001, the country’s three
polytechnics award bachelor’s degrees in a
limited number of courses, in addition to
awarding diplomas and certificates. Even Kenya
has started upgrading its polytechnics to universities from this year. What the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany,
Hong Kong, Greece, etc achieved in the 1990s
and 2000s — that is, the abolition of the often
unfair parity esteem between polytechnic and
university qualifications—had been achieved in
Albert Einstein’s polytechnic in 1909, five years after he got his diploma there. It was, like most
other polytechnics in Switzerland, elevated to a
full-fledged university, although it is still fondly
called “Poly” by its students, staff, and alumni. Now, only a shrinking pool of countries retains
the binary divide between polytechnics and
universities, viz. Nigeria, Singapore, India,
Pakistan, Ghana, and Malaysia. We have no
business being in this lonely company. So this is my recommendation: The HND should
be abolished. However, the OND should be
retained to supply the nation’s middle-level
manpower needs and to serve as a foundational
qualification for entry into bachelor’s degree
programs. Smaller polytechnics should be merged with contiguous universities and be given the
power to award OND and bachelor’s degrees.
Big, resource-rich polytechnics like Yaba Tech
and Kaduna Polytechnic should be intellectually
upgraded and then converted to full-fledged
universities. Having taught mass communication on a part-
time basis at the Kaduna Polytechnic 10 years
ago, I frankly think that the distinction between
polytechnic and university curricula, at least in
the humanities and the social sciences, is like the
distinction between six and half a dozen. In other words, it’s a distinction without a
difference. It’s time to bridge our own binary divide.

ITbomb: Forgive my ignorance but do we have Professors in Polytechnics?

chitoria: I don't think so,did my HND at Abia Poly,my one year IT at an Insurance Company in Lagos.To be sincere I was the best IT student for that year in the company.The department I asked to work is the underwritting unit nd u know what that means.I did my best in that unit as if I already have unwritting knowlege.Other IT students that worked in that unit and were not able to learn fast were transfer to Admin unit.Maybe those u met are not from Abia poly.

Successdude: sorry, do interviewers ask you how many professors taught u ? Or the cgpa of ur profs instead of urs ?

jarkata: FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC ADO-EKITI is d best institutn in Africa, products frm dis school full oil companies pass any school,dem sabi book more dan gurus

chitoria: I don't think so,did my HND at Abia Poly,my one year IT at an Insurance Company in Lagos.To be sincere I was the best IT student for that year in the company.The department I asked to work is the underwritting unit nd u know what that means.I did my best in that unit as if I already have unwritting knowlege.Other IT students that worked in that unit and were not able to learn fast were transfer to Admin unit.Maybe those u met are not from Abia poly.

Kachisbarbie: Story-story, speak for yourself dear...bc i can't mistake Abia poly students for any other set - when we see them, we know them. Am not saying all of them are like that, but majority! I have stayed in Aba for so long, that i can identify them on sight - trust me.

Normality:

If u were to be a guy, I'd have taken u seriously. Gals r known to look down on people when it comes to issues like this, and they are the ones who are the most gullible and fish brain. So I'll excuse u.
U based ur excuses on gullibility and ability to speak good English, what a myopic way of judging people.
I still challenge u that an average Abia Poly student will stand his ground academically with students from the best Universities in Nigeria in their respective corresponding courses of study, quote me anywhere.
You said u can spot a great elephant anywhere, cus u lived in Aba. Another rubbish way of judgement, now let me ask u, how many top tertiary institutions are in Aba and how many of them have as many students as Abia Poly do.
Like I posted to the guy above, d problem we have is not becus we are polytechnic, our problem is becus the schl is located in Aba, and many people underrate it's ability.
I have seen thousands of them who underrate the schl at first and were glad to finally get admission to study in the school cus of the quality of education and competition in d schl.

Your type is like those who becus the schl is in ur town, u prefer to go Nekede or Imo Poly Umuagwo, when it is a glaring truth that we are on par or even better than these institutions. Keep underrating it, while the ones graduating there have never regretted it, instead they shine the line everywhere they go.
U sound like one bitter person who underrates everyone, cus of school, it's bcus of people like u that such a matter of this magnitude has been dragging for so long and had to be taken to court. Discrimination, cus this one is Poly and the other one is Uni. 60% of what they are chunning every year from University are half-baked and have only degree no brain.
U can say the same about Poly students, bt then they have dedicated a better half of their time in schl and IT learning the technicals of their courses, and even if he is not too good in the theory, he can beat anyone with the practical aspect.

See if the can't be the same, make it a level playing ground. Is not even as if there are jobs waiting, cue in the EEDs, small business, and Business law courses I have been taught over the course of 4 year span.
Am seeing the new Windows, Google Inc, Facebook, Yahoo and Apple in me.

Kachisbarbie: I wish i read all what u typed, but i didn't.

pDude:

Thanks for the observation. I have corrected it.

Polytechnic product like you. Nothing dey una empty heads. Only cultism and ratchet behaviour na hin una know.

Evestar200: Some pple are shouting ''after i don hussle for 200 for Jamb, one persor go come say make we be equal?'' i laugh, do u knw how many i scored in JAMB? There are so many pple in the poly that scored 200-251 in their JAMB, so dont come here and talk rubbish abt JAMB score.

Kachisbarbie: I wish i read all what u typed, but i didn't. , but trust me when i say I don't care if they equate them now-now, it doesn't in any way run me down. It's not a function of sch, it's a function of individual ability. That doesn't change the fact that Abia Poly students suck to me, am even seeing a couple of them now, and it's the same old story. There are polys i respect but Abia poly isn't 1 of them. Let me also tell you the reason why banks prefer you guys for IT, don't be deceived into thinking it's because you guys are smarter (am not generalizing anyway), it's because your IT duration is a year, and it saves banks the inconvenience of conducting test/interviews for ITs twice in a yr , which would have been the case if they go for Uni IT students.

shurlermoz:

How many you scored in JAMB ke? Is that modified English or what?

AngelJennifer:

Most of the computer programs/packages and keyboard shortcuts you stated here are the things i learnt in a computer school/business center after my SSCE. Even some JSS 3 students can do that. While waiting for admission i taught my aunt who is a lecturer some of this packages and keyboad commands. Does that make me better than her? It is not about being in a polytechnic or university. Moreso, knowing this few things does not make you a qualified graduate or better than those you taught, it is based on your experience.

thoniann: Thank God I didn't attend a polytechnic, I would have been a very very sad man. #TEAMUNIBEN#

tenry:
Which university offers theories of mass communication in 100level? It is a 300l course,most universities I knw offer Theories in 300l. They might have introduced some theories to u in 200l in d process of teaching some courses like media and politics, development journalism. However, theories of communication as a course comes later in 300l. Whc uni are you? Just asking anyways...

michaeltotti: Oau,ui,unilag dont always adhere to it.it is 200.when u knw that they are equal.y differentiatin d cut off mark.they should av say cut off mark;Dabi they only want polytecnic student head to swell up

IF poly and uni cut off mark aint dsame.then we are nt equal

#shikena

Badmushazan: polytechnic school of average nigerian that value education while university school of prominent nigerian that want to oppress the poor whom manage to have polytechnic education. However going to university does not determined your ability/ success.........no wonder a computer science graduate of ABU zaria asking me if bank security door allow customer holding a pen to enter or not ?..... Ewa wo Aiye university graduate ni ode