The National Universities Commission announced on Wednesday that students studying pharmacy, physiotherapy and optometry in the university will now spend six years instead of the current five years to graduate.

It added that instead of a Bachelor’s degree, they will now be awarded Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D); Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) and Optometry (O.D. Doctor of Optometry), respectively.

The development was announced in a statement on Wednesday by the NUC’s acting Director of Public Affairs, Franca Chukwuonwo.

The commission explained that more courses had been added to the three programmes to align with international standards.

It stated: “The National Universities Commission, cognizant of the need to keep abreast with global perspectives on programmes and course delivery in the university education space, had carried out some nomenclature change and upgraded programmes from Bachelors Degree to Doctor (Bachelors Degree with clinical sessions) status in Nigerian universities.

“This quest to upgrade the status of some medical-related programmes from Bachelor’s degree to doctorate (bachelor’s degree with clinical sessions) was borne out of the desire to incorporate more clinical/practical sessions, provide sufficient coverage of foundation courses, improve clinical skills and cover all specialty areas.

“The trend seeks to also align with global best practices applicable in the training of professionals in these medical-related programmes. Furthermore, the certificates obtained from the Nigerian university system can be on par with those obtained in similar programmes from other climes. This will ensure the requisite harmonisation, mutuality and global competitiveness of Nigerian graduates in terms of certificate evaluation, employability and further studies in the relevant disciplines.

“Below is the list of the programmes upgraded from Bachelors degree to Doctor status, which are found in NUC’s Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards and Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards.

“Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D); Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT); and Optometry (O.D. Doctor of Optometry).

“Consequently, the duration of the above programmes was increased from five to six years to accommodate the additional courses and clinicals incorporated into the curriculum.”

Also, the NUC warned admission seekers against applying to study Doctor of Medical Laboratory Science programme in any university in the country, saying the programme had not been approved.

The commission emphasised that DMLS was not contained either in its Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards or Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards.

It said, “The general public and all stakeholders are hereby informed that the Doctor of Medical Laboratory Science programme does not exist in the NUC’s BMAS or CCMAS and thus has not been captured as an upgraded programme.

“Consequently, MLSD has not approved programme in the offerings of any Nigerian university,” it stated.