The National Universities Commission (NUC) has upgraded several medical-related programmes in Nigerian universities from Bachelor’s degree to doctoral status.
This was announced in a statement on Wednesday by NUC’s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Franca Chukwuonwo.
She explained that the decision was made to incorporate more clinical and practical sessions, improve foundational course coverage, enhance clinical skills, and comprehensively address all specialty areas.
The NUC emphasized that the upgrade aligns with global best practices for training professionals in these fields.
As part of the changes, the duration of the affected programmes has been extended from five to six years to accommodate additional courses and clinical training.
The statement highlighted that the programmes upgraded to doctoral status, as outlined in NUC’s Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) and Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), include the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D), Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT), and Doctor of Optometry (O.D).
