The Federal Government has scrapped the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Computer Science program across all technical institutions in Nigeria.
The move is aimed at diversifying skilled manpower in the fast-evolving IT landscape and equipping graduates with specialised skillsets.
The announcement was contained in a letter dated January 8, 2024, and signed by Prof. Idris M. Bugaje, Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
The letter, addressed to the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and copied to key stakeholders, outlines a phase-out plan by the 2025 academic session.
The letter said no HND Awarding institutions will be allowed to admit a new set of students to study Computer Science from the 2024/2025 Academic Session. However, students who might have wanted to study computer science at the HND level can now choose from any of the four specialised areas floated from the former “Computer Science” discipline.
The four new areas of specialisation floated from Computer Science include HND Artificial Intelligence, HND Networking and Cloud Computing, HND Software and Web Development, and HND Cybersecurity and Data Protection.
