28 colleges of education begin five-year NCE-to-degree programme – Alausa

The Federal Government has said no fewer than 28 federal colleges of education across Nigeria have commenced implementation of the dual-mandate programme that allows students to earn both the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree within five years.

Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, who disclosed this on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s said that the initiative, introduced in 2025, was designed to strengthen teacher education, improve student enrolment in colleges of education and ensure the long-term sustainability of the institutions.

Alausa explained that students admitted into the colleges begin with the NCE programme and, after completing three years and meeting the required university admission criteria, proceed to earn a degree in an additional two years.

“From last year alone, dual-mandate colleges of education and all federal colleges of education today, most of them, except the ones that were founded five years and below, now offer dual-mandate degrees.

“That student will now go, they’ll enter as an NCE, they’ll do three years. After three years, if they meet the requirement to go to universities, which is five credits, they’ll continue and do another two years and get two degrees.

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“Five years, you get NCE, National College of Education Diploma, and you get a Bachelor of Education degree,” the minister said.

He noted that the reform had already attracted more students to colleges of education and expanded opportunities for teacher training in the country.

“That has really now put colleges of education into sustainability for the future. So we’ve had more traction of students going. We need a better pool of more teachers, high-quality teachers,” Alausa stated.

The minister likened the arrangement to the transition pathway from National Diploma programmes in polytechnics to university degree qualifications.

He further revealed that state-owned colleges of education are expected to commence implementation of the dual-mandate programme from the 2026 academic session after amending relevant state laws.

“Now, for the state colleges of education, they now have to change their individual state legislation to make that happen.

“I think, as of the last count, we have almost 18 states or 17 states that have done that. They would also be doing that from this 2026 academic session. That’s a huge change in our colleges of education,” he said.

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Alausa, however, clarified that students who fail to meet the required O’level qualifications for university admission after completing the NCE component would graduate with only the NCE qualification.

“If you don’t meet those requirements, you terminate at NCE. But the key thing, beyond opening up more access, is to now create a pool,” he added.