By Amaechi Agbo

Despite having 67 programmes in its fold from existing twelve faculties the management of Nigeria’s premier Science and Technology University, The Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT has concluded plans to establish four new programmes in the university.

This is even as the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie will before the end of the year establish two new faculties in the institution.

The four new Bachelor of Science programmes to be introduced from the 2024/2025 academic session, upon verification by the NUC, are: Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Radiography, Public Health and Biomedical Engineering.

The two new faculties to be established are: Faculty of Allied Health Sciences which would be demerged from Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences as well as the Faculty of Arts and Humanities which will be created out of the present Faculty of Social Science and Humanities.

The Director, Academic Planning, Prof Chike Anibeze told Esut Monitor that the National Universities Commission, NUC has approved ESUT’s preliminary filing adding that the programmes would commence in the next academic calendar, after resource verifications

“The VC has approved that the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences would be detached from the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences. In other words, there is a new creation of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences which would accommodate Nursing Sciences and Med Lab Science.

“Because there are just two departments, the VC envisaged that we need to add or support the Allied Sciences areas especially, so we made a request to NUC for three extra programmes in that direction. We have done a field work, and we applied. The programmes are: Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Radiography and Public Health. These are BSc programmes, and I am glad to tell you that as we speak, the NUC has given preliminary node, that our filings are in proper shape. They have requested that they will come for the resource verification.

“And if the resource verifications are done, we envisage that the programmes will commence in the 2024/2025 session which would start in October by our own academic calendar. With the three new departments merging into the two already existing courses, we have a full-fledged Faculty of Allied and Health Sciences; that is where we are with regards to increase in the number of programmes.

“We equally have one extra programme in the school which has been given the node for resource verification, that is Biomedical Engineering. You know what is in trend in the world, you realize that we targeted the two very important areas. One is Mechatronic Engineering which we have gotten students there last year. The second phase is to run the BSc in Biomedical Engineering. This is going to help us synthesis between the engineering technology and medicine, that is where we are,” Prof Anibeze said.

It could be recalled that the Vice-Chancellor had said at different fora that the management will, before the end of the year, demerge Faculty of Social Sciences and establish Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

The creation of these two new faculties will bring to 14 the total number of faculties in the university with about 71 programmes.