Second-Edition-2022-Amended

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) is a statutory body set up by the Federal Government of Nigeria with the mandate to regulate the practice of Engineering in all aspects and ramifications. It was established by Decree 55 of 1970, amended by Decree 27 of 1992 and now, Engineers (Registration, etc.) Act CAP E 11, 2004 which was further amended by the Engineers (Registration, etc.) (Amendment) Act No 3, 2018. COREN is empowered by its mandate to carry out the following:

•   Accreditation of Engineering Programmes
•   Registration of Engineering Personnel and firms
•   Regulation and Control of Engineering Practice

1.2 COREN VISION AND MISSION

VISION:

To promote and ensure the highest standards of professionalism in engineering practice in Nigeria.

MISSION STATEMENT:

•   To register and license Engineering Personnel and Firms and make provisions for the control of engineering practice.
•   To determine the academic standards of courses and accredit programmes to be offered by institutions training Engineering Personnel.
•   To foster speedy acquisition of relevant engineering and technological skills through Continuous Professional Development.
•   To ensure that engineering is practiced to improve the quality of life and promote sustainable development.
•   To promote and ensure stability and cooperation within the Engineering family. Thus, this Manual provides the necessary information for the processes and proceduresfor conducting an accreditation exercise for engineering programmes in Nigeria. It also

provides guidelines for the commencement of engineering programmes in institutions and for the re-accreditation of existing programmes.

1.3 NEED FOR ACCREDITATION/RECOGNITION

One of the objectives of accreditation is to acknowledge and validate the quality of training received by students who are enrolled in engineering programmes. This leads to enhancement of the quality of their training so that they become competent engineers equipped with strong grasps of the basics, adequate professional skills, and personal competence, thereby making them employable after graduation.

The accreditation process has been in existence in Nigeria since 1972. The current expansion in engineering programmes in variety and number at different higher institutions makes it necessary to strengthen the system. This is because it is not possible to meaningfully sustain the present growth rate without a parallel exercise in quality assessment of the programme(s). Such an exercise will ensure that the institution running the programme(s) has the necessary facilities, equipment and faculty resources for the programme(s), to deliver technically competent manpower that meets the local employers’ requirements and global job market in the Engineering and Technology sectors. This process leads to local and international recognitions of engineering graduates from higher educational institutions in Nigeria.

1.4

OBJECTIVES OF ACCREDITATION

(a)To establish the standard of knowledge and skill that are to be attained by persons seeking to become Registered Engineering Personnel and to review those standards from time to time as circumstances may permit;

(b) To ensure that graduates of engineering programmes accredited by COREN are adequately prepared academically and possess necessary skills to pursue productive and successful careers as professional engineers;

(c)To help parents, students and the general public to identify engineering programmes run in various higher educational institutions that meet the the standard of COREN in complying with accreditation criteria;

(d) To encourage higher educational institutions in Nigeria, to improve on their training of engineers through the implementation of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) which is an important requirement in Outcome-based Education accreditation system; and

(e)To provide standards for upgrading existing engineering programmes and establishment of new programmes in higher educational institutions in Nigeria;

(f) To formulate from the outcomes of accreditation visitations an industrial training policy which could form the basis of legislation by the Federal Government to ensure meaningful industrial training of engineering students.

1.5 THE ACCREDITATION MANDATE OF COREN

The Act Section 1 (1) (b) (i) (as amended by Act No.3 2018) also states that COREN shall have the duty of:

“determining what standards of knowledge and skill are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as engineering practitioners and to raise those standards from time to time as circumstances may permit”.

Saddled with the responsibility to register engineering practitioners, the Act in Section 6 (1) (a) – (c), amongst others, stipulates that a person shall be registered by COREN if:

1. (a)  He has attended a course of training approved by the Council under the following section;
2. (b)  The course was conducted at an institution so approved, or partly at one such institution andpartly at another or others;
3. (c)  He holds a qualification so approved.

Section 9 provides conditions for the approval of courses, qualifications and institutions. Similarly, Section 9 (1) states that:

“…the Council may approve for the purposes of subsection (2) of section 6:

1. (a)  any courses of training which is intended for persons who are seeking to become, or are already, members of the engineering profession, and which the Council considers is designed to confer on persons completing it sufficient knowledge and skill for the practice of that profession or for practice as members of a specialized branch of that profession;
2. (b)  any institution either in Nigeria, or elsewhere, which the Council considers is properly organized and equipped for conducting the whole or any part of a course of training, approved by the Council under this section.

Worthy of note also is that the Act in Section 9 (3) (6) states that:

(3) The Council may, if it thinks fit, withdraw any approval given under this section in respect of any course, qualification or institution;

(6) An educational institution for the training of persons in the engineering profession shall submit a syllabus of its programme, content and minimum facilities to the Council for approval before a course approved by the National Universities Commission or the National Board for Technical Education, or any other engineering body, is commenced.

COREN, therefore, carries out this mandate through the Accreditation of engineering Programmes in Universities, Polytechnics and Technical Colleges. The exercise is geared towards quality assurance; hence accreditation ensures that products of: engineering programmes in Universities; engineering technology programmes in Universities and Polytechnics; and engineering trade programmes in Technical Colleges

and Vocational Training Centers are sound, functional and efficient engineering practitioners that meet the challenges of our present and future society. This means that COREN ensures that the right quality of training is given for all cadres of engineering practitioners, (engineers, engineering technologists, engineering technicians and engineering craftsmen), and institutions produce industry-compliant graduates. COREN also registers and licenses all these categories of engineering personnel, as well as firms to practice in Nigeria.

It is therefore, mandatory for every engineering programme run in any higher educational institution in Nigeria, to be accredited by COREN, since only graduates of accredited engineering programmes will be registered and licensed by COREN to practise in Nigeria.

It should be noted that The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has established the Engineering Accreditation Committee (EAC) to independently carry out accreditation of Engineering degree programmes on its behalf.

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