Kwame Dattey - Executive Secretary of NAB The National Accreditation Board (NAB) has been asked to clarify genuine and acceptable diplomas for top up courses / degree programmes in the universities.

The Association of General Business Certificate Examination (GBCE) and Advanced Business Certificate Examination (ABCE) Institutes which made the call, said the current situation where private universities were taking Diploma in Business Studies (DBS) holders for top up degree courses in level 200 could not be acceptable because such students were not academically prepared for academic work in the universities.

The acting President of the Association, Mr Emmanuel Ayisi, argued that the two- year DBS  which was a pre Higher National Diploma (HND) programme which took three years was being confused with legitimate diplomas such as the GBCE and the ABCE conducted by the West African Examinations Council.

In reaction to the admission of unqualified students to some private universities in the country and the subsequent order by the NAB recently to such universities to withdraw such students , Mr Ayisi said the private universities were capitalising on this confusion to admit DBS holders into the universities for the primary purpose of making money.

He claimed that an attempt by the NAB to rectify the situation by requiring DBS holders to have passes in English , Maths and Science could not be acceptable because it rendered the HND useless.

“The whole education structure is being confused. How can you admit students who do two year DBS into the universities to do the same courses that HND holders from the polytechnics who do three years are admitted to?”, he asked.

Mr Ayisi said there were many discrepancies in the tertiary education sector which needed redress for an improvement in the quality of education especially at the tertiary level in the country.

But in response to this clarification request by the association, Mr Kwame Dattey, Executive Secretary of the NAB said there was no confusion as to what constituted a diploma for admission into the universities.

He said the DBS “ is not an alternative to admission requirements to the university”.

Mr Dattey said it was unfortunate that some private universities were admitting students with the DBS and that that was not proper.

The DBS, he explained, was meant to train people as clerical staff among others, adding that when such students were discovered to have been admitted in such manner , the NAB took action.