Minister, quantity surveyors validate curricula for schools

By Nkechi Onyedika-Ugoeze, | 07 March 2016 | 1:10 am

Words of assurance came last week from the Minister of Power, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, supporting steps towards reviewing the curricula of quantity surveyors in Nigeria.
The Minister, the profession’s regulatory body, Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) and the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), said the move was in good direction, which must be supported by all stakeholders.
Besides, Fashola urged quantity surveyors to bring their expertise to bear in cost management of infrastructure and construction process to achieve the resource optimization and value maximization needed to put the country back on the right track to sustainable growth and development.
The need to review curricula in the nations institutions of higher learning was of paramount value if the profession would address the nation’s domestic needs and also meet global challenges, Fashola said.

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the quantity surveying profession at the weekend began critique and validation of the revised quantity surveying curricula for degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes in Nigerian universities and polytechnics.
Speaking at a workshop organized by the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) in Abuja, the Minister noted that, the profession of quantity surveying plays a key role in the building and construction industry, a sector with potentials, which this administration intends to exploit in the pursuit of the socio-economic development of the country.

He observed that the present economic realities have made the quest for higher rates of value-for-money for not only government but, investors in the sector.
Fashola stated that the sector can contribute greatly to the growth of the national economy in terms of fixed capital formation, multiplier effect and employment generation.
He said that institutions of higher learning have over time, equipped graduates with competencies required for delivery of a wide range of cost services in most aspects of building and engineering construction works.

However, the minister added that, the curriculum of any profession needs periodic review to take account of contemporary developments.
Represented by a Director in the ministry, Mr. Dickson Onoja, the minister noted that quantity surveying curricula currently in use in our universities and polytechnics were developed several years ago and do not meet the present day realities of the profession, calling for their review to address our domestic needs and also meet global challenges.
He said, “The frontier of knowledge of most professions are changing and expanding fast and called on the QSRBN and other stakeholders to ensure that the profession remains on the cutting edge of developments”.

Also speaking, President of QSRBN, Mallam Husaini Dikko, noted that past visitation exercise to universities and polytechnics show that they still operate curricula designed over 20 years ago notwithstanding the rapid transformation witnessed in the surveying profession over the years.
Dikko observed that emerging frontiers such as project management, procurement and supply chain, value chain management, contract auditing and taxation studies are not given the necessary impetus while the cumulative number of units hour required to obtain a Degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) has remained static notwithstanding the expanding faculties in the profession.
He stressed the need to revise the curriculum of the profession to take cognizance of developments of the past 20 years in order to make registered quantity surveyors in the country more competitive nationally and globally.

Dikko explained that the theme of the workshop “Setting the Minimum Professional Standards for Degree and Higher National Diploma programmes in Quantity Surveying in Nigeria” was carefully chosen to give room for the participating stakeholders to critique the draft revised curricular for quantity surveying programmes in Nigerian tertiary institutions and come up with a viable curricular that can prepare graduates from Nigerian institutions to compete favourably with their counterparts across the globe.
http://guardian.ng/property/minister-quantity-surveyors-validate-curricula-for-schools/