NUC Approves Reintroduction of Management Courses at FUNAAB

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has officially approved the reintroduction of management degree programmes at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State.

According to a statement issued on Monday by the Acting Head of Public Relations, Mr. Olasunkanmi Olajide, the approval followed a successful Resource Assessment Visit by the NUC to evaluate the proposed programmes.

Olajide disclosed that the approval was contained in a letter dated October 17, and signed by Abubakar M. Girei, Acting Director of Academic Planning, on behalf of the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu.

The newly approved programmes include B.Sc. Accounting, B.Sc. Banking and Finance, B.Sc. Business Administration, B.Sc. Economics, and a newly introduced M.Sc. Agroecology.

This marks a major milestone in FUNAAB’s academic development, as the management programmes were previously delisted in the 2017/2018 academic session following a Federal Government directive that restricted specialised universities from running such courses.

In 2021, the university’s Senate renamed the College of Management Sciences (COLMAS) to the College of Entrepreneurial and Development Studies (COLENDS) to reflect FUNAAB’s broader focus on entrepreneurship and development-oriented education.

With the NUC’s latest approval, admissions into the reintroduced degree programmes will commence in the 2025/2026 academic session under COLENDS.

It would be recalled that in 2021, the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the university appealed to the Federal Government to reconsider its stance on management science courses in agricultural universities.

The then SUG President, Comrade Michael Oloyede, argued that the college had enhanced the competitiveness of agricultural studies by integrating business and management principles — a practice widely accepted globally.

He emphasized that offering management programmes in agricultural universities complements, rather than undermines, their core mandate of agricultural education.

The college comprises five departments — Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business Administration, Economics, and Entrepreneurial Studies — all of which hold full NUC accreditation.