Medical Students Now To Spend 7yrs In Nigerian Universities

I just hope they will pay them well after graduation. The National Universities Commission (NUC) has developed new Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards for training of doctors in universities with medical programme now extended to seven years duration.

Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, presented the reviewed curriculum to the stakeholders at a 3-day capacity development programme for staff of medical schools in Nigerian universities.

He said the new benchmark minimum academic standard is 

competency-based and would substantially address most of the challenges faced by the institutions in the training of doctors in the country. Okojie noted that those that people trust their lives must be adequately trained and competent to discharge their responsibilities efficiently.

The curriculum review was necessitated by the fact that the frontier of knowledge in all academic disciplines had been advancing with new information generated as a result of research.

Prof. Okojie said: "We must built some good quality hospitals and make facilities available for the students who are coming out with competences and skills to work. No doctor would want to work without equipment. "We are trying to look at it from holistic view. Good learning and teaching environment; good medical centres and the management of resources itself."