INSTITUTE OF PLANNING NIGERIA

ACADEMIC PLANNING

Overview

The need to provide a framework for the coordination of academic activities and programmes, particularly in higher education, thus helping to streamline unwarranted growth and development and duplication of academic programmes, and the imperative to maintain well-defined minimum standards have led to the creation of academic planning units in many tertiary educational institutions. This development has been associated with the need to have a crop of planning professionals to manage such units. This course exposes the student to the theory and practice of academic planning.

Aims

The main aim of this course is to expose the students to the general principles and practice of academic planning in tertiary educational institutions.

Objectives

At the end of the course, the student should be able to;

Appreciate the need for academic planning as tool for balancing the demand for, and supply of educational services, and

Understand the functions of a typical academic unit in tertiary educational institutions.

Course Structure/Description

A number of topics will be covered in this course. They include:

  • Planning in relation to academic programmes, student-intake, curriculum development, and physical planning
  • Philosophy and objectives of academic planning
  • Functions of the academic planning unit
  • Organization of academic planning units in tertiary educational institutions
  • Strategies for effective academic planning
  • Academic planning and quality assurance
  • Relationship between the academic planning and other units in tertiary educational institutions
  • Knowledge skills in academic planning
  • Basic Mathematics for academic planning
  • General computer skills for academic planning
  • Word processing and spreadsheet applications
  • Common software application packages (SPSS, STATA, STATISTIX, etc.)

Paper 2: INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR ACADEMIC PLANNING

Course Code: APL/FF 02

Overview

The practice of academic planning has evolved over time from when it was regarded as the responsibility of teachers and school administrators to its present state, where statutory authorities are vested with the responsibility to determine benchmarks and minimum standards. This course overviews the institutional framework for academic planning with special reference to the Nigerian experience.

Aims

The main aim of the course is to acquaint students with the range and functions of statutory agencies and internal systems that are charged with the responsibility of academic planning, with particular reference to Nigeria.

Objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • Know the key milestones in the evolution of academic planning in Nigeria
  • Know the major agencies and institutions charged with the responsibility of academic planning, and
  • Articulate the organization pre-requisites for operating an efficient system of academic planning.

Course Structure/Description

Topics to be treated include

Evolution of academic planning as a distinct area of professionalism in tertiary educational institutions

  • The role of National Universities Commission and other government regulatory bodies
  • The role of Senate
  • Academic planning and Policy Committee
  • The role of faculties and the Postgraduate School
  • The regulatory framework and autonomy of administration
  • Constitutional issues in academic planning
  • National policies on education and implications for academic planning
  • Stakeholder identification in academic planning
  • Feedback systems in academic planning

Paper 9: QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Course Code: APL/FP 9

Overview

Quality can be viewed as a grade of achievement, or a standard against which an institution, system, or product can be judged. Specifically, the quality of higher education can be judged by the relative degree of excellence in teaching, content of academic programmes, research and scholarship, staffing, students, infrastructural facilities such as laboratories and libraries, as well as services to the academic environment and the community. Establishing confidence bounds for these various indicators is what constitutes quality assurance. A key function of the academic planning unit in tertiary educational institutions is that of quality assurance. This course exposes the student to practical issues relating to quality assurance.

Aims

The main of the course is to expose students to issues relating to quality assurance, as well as the mechanisms through which better quality can be assured for higher education.

Objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

Identify and articulate the key factors that determine the quality of higher education, and

  • Design operational logical frameworks for ensuring optimal quality in the delivery of higher educational services to intermediate and end-users.

Course Structure/Description

Topics to be covered include:

The concept of quality in educational services delivery

  • Factors influencing quality
  • Quality assurance and performance indicators in tertiary education
  • Classification of performance indicators
  • Performance indicators in the evaluation of quality of higher education
  • The National Universities Commission and the setting of quality standards in higher education
  • Components of academic quality
  • Funding of higher education
  • Library and information services
  • Limitations of the use of Performance Indicators
  • Accreditation and Re-accreditation requirements
  • Setting up new tertiary educational institutions and the role of regulatory authorities
  • Benchmarks and Minimum Academic Standards for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes
  • Achievement Tests for Admission into tertiary educational institutions
  • Internal quality control mechanisms and academic ethics
  • The role of Senate and other Committees
  • Monitoring and Evaluation of standards

Paper 13: FORECASTING MODELS FOR ACADEMIC PLANNING

Course Code: APL/FP 13

Overview

Forecasting is about predicting the future, based on knowledge of the present and the past. For most organizations, including higher educational institutions, forecasting has as much intermediate and long-term influence on the quality if output and services provided. Within the setting of managing educational institutions, educational and academic planning requires an efficient system of forecasting so as to balance the future workload of the system with the resources that are available. Consequently, there is need to have ready forecasts of growth in student population, budgetary requirements, staffing needs and other infrastructure.

Aims

The main aim of this course is to synergize and expand the student’s previous knowledge of quantitative and statistical methods, with special focus on the aspects that are more applicable to forecasting methods that are specifically appropriate for professional academic planning practice.

Objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

Specify models of forecasting relevant to academic planning, based on theoretical and a priori criteria

  • Identify appropriate techniques for estimating such models
  • Evaluate such models on the basis of first-order and second-order criteria, and
  • Use the results of such models to make forecasts of student population, resource and budgetary requirements, infrastructural needs, internally generated revenue, fail-outs, etc.

Course Structure/Description

Topics to be covered include:

  • Meaning of Forecasting, and its significance in academic planning
  • Point, range and probability forecasts
  • Trend extrapolation techniques
  • Time series versus cross sectional Analysis
  • The importance of descriptive statistics
  • Predicting values, using mean, median or mode
  • The difference between fitting and forecasting
  • Basic Linear regression models
  • Simple Smoothing methods of forecasting
  • Multiple regression models of forecasting
  • Advanced econometric methods of forecasting
  • Addressing the problems of multi collinearly and autocorrelation
  • Establishing the forecasting power of an estimated econometric model
  • Forecasting with probabilistic models
  • Input-output Techniques for Forecasting
  • Advanced computer applications with PC-GIVE, E-VIEWS, MICROFIT, SHAZAM, RATS, etc)

Paper 14: KEY ISSUES IN ACADEMIC PLANNING IN NIGERIA

Course Code: APL/FP14

Overview

The Nigerian tertiary educational system has recorded substantial expansion in the last decade, in terms of student population and number of institutions. This expansion has however not been accompanied by adequate funding for public tertiary institutions, and quality of teaching and research facilities has been progressively declining over the years. The situation is not better for the newly established private higher educational institutions. Thus the generally-acclaimed high standards with which the Nigerian higher educational system was associated in the past has been visibly threatened, to the extent that products of the system are sometimes rejected by employers, or made to face discriminatory practices by universities abroad when they apply for admission into postgraduate programmes. This course focuses on current key issues.

Aims

The main aim of this course is to enable the student identify the major problems confronting the Nigerian educational system, resolutions of which could ensure better standards and quality for Nigeria higher education.

Objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • Identify the key problems facing the Nigerian tertiary educational system, and
  • Articulate the implications of the identified problems for academic planning
  • The course will also enable academic planning officers to play a more active role in influencing the direction and quality of academic services in their various institutions.

Course Structure/Description

Topics to be covered include:

  • Impact of academic instability on academic planning
  • Budgeting and funding issues in Nigerian tertiary education
  • The issue of academic autonomy
  • Exchange programmes and internationalization of tertiary education curricula
  • Globalisation, entrepreneurial issues in curriculum development and graduate employability
  • Ethical issues in quality assurance
  • Professionalisation of academic planning
  • Academic briefs and master plans for tertiary educational institutions
  • The changing roles of regulatory institutions and agencies in higher education
  • Developing indicators for the ranking of tertiary educational institutions
  • Impact of political interference on the quality of academic services
  • Accreditation of academic programmes
  • Carrying capacities for private and public tertiary educational institutions.
  • Academic briefs and master plans
  • Academic planning and curriculum development
  • Out-reach programmes and their impact on educational quality
  • Comparative academic planning

ACADEMIC PLANNING

FaFaculty Course Title Course Code
Paper 1 Introduction to The Theory and Practice of Academic Planning APL/FF 1
Paper 2 Institutional Framework for Academic Planning APL/FF 2
Paper 5 Strategic Planning for Academic Planners APL/FI 5
Paper 9 Quality Assurance in Higher Education APL/FP 9
Paper 13 Forecasting Models in Academic Planning APL/FP 13
Paper 14 Key Issues in Academic Planning APL/FP 14

llllll

error

Please spread the word