Bill to Professionalise Varsity Administration Underway, Says ANUPA

In a bid to professionalise administration in the countries universities, the Association of Nigerian University Professional Administrators (ANUPA) has concluded all necessary plans to present a Bill to the National Assembly.

According to the association, the bill is aimed at enhancing the skills of administrators as key players in the knowledge-economy of the 21st century.

The Bill titled”The Chartered Institute of Administrators and Registrars of Nigerian Universities (CIARNU) 2019 had earlier been ratified by ANUPA General Assembly at its Annual General Meeting held in 2017 at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife, Osun State.

Before now, the national Council of the association had been working with the relevant stakeholders, including the Association of Registrars of Nigerian Universities (ARNU), Committee of Vice- Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, TETFund and the National Universities Commission (NUC), to fine tune and harmonise the Bill to meet up with global best practices.

The Bill will, among other things, seek the establishment of an Institute and develop curriculum for training, retraining and certification of members.

It will also proceed to have a national register of all the professional administrators in all Nigerian universities and put in place continuous professional development plans and capacity building for university Administrators in line with international best practices.

It will be recalled that over the years, ANUPA as the training platform and an arm of the Association of Registrars of Nigerian Universities had been organising conferences,workshops,trainings and seminars including annual registry lectures in various universities in the country as well as National Annual General Meetings.

Currently, the association has over 20,000 members spread over 170 universities in the country, and is affiliated with other professional bodies in higher education administration such as the Association of Caribbean Higher Education Administrators(ACHEA), Association of American Universities Administrators(AAUA) and others around the world.

Speaking recently to the journalists in Abuja when he led officials of the association to the National Assembly to rub minds with some senators on the bill, ANUPA’s national president, Mr Titus Igwe, assured members, stakeholders in higher education sector and the entire Nigerians that he was hopeful that the bill will be passed soon.

He added that universities in the country could not afford to be left behind in this global era of knowledge- based economy which is recognized as the harbinger of national renewal, socio-economic growth and development.

Igwe added that the AGM/Conference of the association would be held between 24th and 28th November, 2019 at the University of Uyo, Akwa- Ibom State, where members would be further exposed to lectures/seminars on modern administrative practices that will further enhance their human capacity status while on the job.