The purpose of the Master of Divinity (M.Div) programme is to adequately prepare and establish students, pastors who are graduates of other disciplines who have keen interest in pursuing higher degrees to enable such people fit into the church work. The programme will expose students to take courses in various disciplines such as theology, biblical languages, philosophy, psychology, church administration and sociology of religion that will serve as the bedrock for higher expositions in the field. It will also serve as a channel through which students will acquaint themselves with the basic rudiments of the discipline. The programme will enormously enhance students’ knowledge in Christian religious studies and broaden their phenomenally, as it will lay a very solid foundation as pastors and church workers.
The period of study for the M.Div programme shall be a minimum of 2 semesters and a maximum of 5 semesters.
The purpose of the Post Graduate Diploma in Theology (PGD.Th) Ordination is to adequately prepare graduates of other disciplines who are keen in pursuing a career as ordained priests in the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion. The programme is meant as fillip for graduates any disciplines that have received the call into the ordained ministry of the Anglican Communion but were unable to attend the conventional theological seminaries of the Church. The programme will expose students to take courses in various disciplines such as theology, biblical languages, philosophy, church administration, church rubrics, pastoralia that will serve as the bedrock for higher expositions in the field. It will also serve as a channel through which students will acquaint themselves with the basic rudiments of the discipline. The programme will enormously enhance students’ knowledge in pastoral practicum and broaden their phenomenally, as it will lay a very solid foundation as pastors and church workers.
Duration: 24 calendar months of 4 semesters by course work and research (long essay).
The period of study for the M.Th programme shall be a minimum of 2 semesters and a maximum of 4 semesters.
The Master of Arts in Church Administration and Ministry is a practitioner’s degree that prepares persons for specialized ministry in Church Administration and Leadership. The programme integrates theology with leadership and administration through an expanded curriculum of leadership courses. Graduates of this programme will be prepared for ministries in discipleship, church administration, and executive or denominational leadership.
Candidates for the M.A. programme shall possess a minimum of Second Class (Lower Division) degree in any Christian discipline.
Over the years of running Western Education oriented programmes in Nigeria, there has been the need to produce teachers who could operate the education system efficiently with a view to achieving specified curricula goals. In view of this trend, there are graduate personnel who have been employed exigently to perform teaching duties at various levels of the education system, viz-the Nursery, Basic, Senior Secondary and Tertiary levels, who are not professionals.
Within the limit of the exercise of academic freedom to correct the anomaly, most Nigerian Universities have risen to the occasion by establishing Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Programmes to equip that class of persons with requisite skills of the teaching profession. The PGDE programmes run in various Nigerian Universities, accordingly, have vaguely related aims, objectives and diverse curricula.
Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) – has, the authority to regulate professionalism in teaching in Nigeria. Accordingly, the Council has hereby produced this draft National Benchmark for the PGDE Programme in Nigeria, having closely studied the strengths and weaknesses of the PGDE Programme as run by universities in Nigeria. The National Benchmark is hereby presented as the Minimum Standard for the PGDE Programme in Nigeria.
The Philosophy of PGDE Programme is to produce educators who will serve as agents of positive change through the social engineering processes of education as teachers, researchers, experts, educational policy/programme designers, developers, implementers, evaluators and experts whose services shall be useful in related fields of national and international development.
The PGDE Programme is theoretical and practical. It includes important aspects of teaching and learning. The programme addresses the philosophical problems of the bases of educational practice, the diverse human settings within which teaching and learning occur, the practical process and content of teaching, the definition of the teacher’s role and teaching ethics.
At the end of the programme, learners should have in-depth knowledge of education and the professional requirements as well as competence to adequately teach at various levels of education especially in the mission schools and churches and function effectively in other organizations. All courses offered in the programme aim at:
The routine management of the PGDE Programme is vested on the authority of the University which runs the programme. Accordingly, each university shall forward an application or intent to TRCN for consideration, assessment and approval before commencement, in the event that the programme had commenced before the adoption of the National Benchmark, the institution shall forward to TRCN within three (3) months of receipt of the National Benchmark details of the PGDE Programme for interim Assessment (IA) and resource verification. TRCN shall within three (3) months on receipt of the document, conduct Interim Assessment of the programme and shall within the subsequent twelve (12) months carry-out Full Accreditation (FA) of the PGDE programme. Letters must be sent to all concerned with the Accreditation exercise.
The PGDE programme shall become operable subject to full compliance with stipulated regulations. The admission requirements for Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme are presented below.
General criteria for admission are as follows:
Full-time admission is offered only to candidates who can satisfy the Admission Board of PGDE Programme that they are not in employment, or that they have been relieved by their employers to undertake full-time studies. Candidates who have made a false declaration in this respect shall be expelled from the programme whenever detected.
Candidates who have applied from within a university may be admitted into a part-time/online programmes. However, they shall undertake to take all courses for the programme and satisfy supervision requirements within the duration of the course.
The duration for the full-time programme is one academic session which comprises two semesters. In the event of failure (or other justifiable reasons to cause extension), the candidate shall spend an additional session of two semesters to remedy such problems. At the end of the second session, the studentship shall be deemed to have lapsed if the student could not complete programme successfully. For good cause, a paid-up student could suspend studies and/or defer admission for a period not exceeding one academic session (two semesters) only.
The duration for the part-time PGDE Programme is four semesters (two academic sessions). In the event of failure or any other justifiable reason, the student shall spend an additional session (two semesters) to remedy the problem.
After the sixth semester (third academic session), the programme shall be deemed to have lapsed if the student does not complete the proogramme successfully. For good cause, a paid-up student could suspend studies and/or defer admission for a period not exceeding one academic session (two semesters).
Christian Education is the utilization of education – formal, non-formal and informal – to transform a person into the likeness of Jesus Christ, providing an understanding of the world through the perspective of the Bible. This programme examines the concepts of Christian education, and is designed for students who desire to enter the educational programme of the local church – pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions as well as the teaching and literature ministries, Sunday school, youth organizations, church societies etc, and how these can be utilized to inform, invite and inspire young persons, especially to live Christ’s way. The programme will develop in students the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to establish, administer, monitor and evaluate church-based or church-related educational institutions or agencies.
The specific objectives of the programme are to:
For M.Phil/Ph.D. – The three years (sessions) 6 Semesters.
Each student is expected to specialize in any of the following: Old Testament Studies, New Testament Studies, Church History, Philosophy of Religion and Theology, Religious Ethics or Sociology of Religion.
To graduate, all M.Phil/Ph.D students must have taken and passed the prescribed number of courses including all compulsory and required courses totaling a minimum of 60 and maximum of 70 units as follows (UNN and Seminary Courses). At most 36 units of taught and examined courses for one session, 2 additional years of supervised research study towards the writing of Thesis. M.Phil/Ph.D candidates will have to convert with a written research proposal which will have to be orally defended at the end of
It aim is to help bring theory and practice together. Hence, the D.Min is a very practicable degree, it involves lectures, seminars, research project, site visits or organizations in order for the participants to learn about best practices. These practices are then examined in the lecture labs with a view to improving on them.
The D.Min degree culminates in a research thesis that relates to the practice of ministry or Church/Para Church Organization. The research which is applicable should have direct bearing with the ministry in which the candidate presently works or intends to work in the future. The methodology for such research is usually sociological rather than exegetical.
Since the D.Min degree is designated for top executives. It is important for the candidates to be admitted to be middle-high to high level minister in their various organizations. For pastoral leaders, a minimum of 5 years post ordination experience is needed. If they are not the chief-executives of their organizations, a strong recommendation of their ministry supervisor is required for admission into the program.
NUC MINIMUM BENCHMARK FOR DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION AND CULTURAL STUDIES COURSES (UNN)
The philosophy of the M.A. and PhD programme is to train and develop scholars who will be concerned with the critical study of the African Religious and Cultural life in all its diversity. Emphasis is placed on those religious traditions which have the greatest importance in the history of Africa (African traditional religious traditions, Christianity and Islam) with their ethical demands. The emerging scholars will develop the ability to understand, and critically interpret the nature of religious reality as well as the mutual interplay of religious features with other elements in the broader social and cultural context.
All candidates must possess the minimum of five Ordinary Level Credit passes which must include English Language, Bible Knowledge or Christian Religious Studies and any three of the Arts and Social Science subjects.
Candidates must possess a good Bachelors degree in Religion and its variants (e.g. Religious Studies, Religious and Cultural Studies, Religious Management and Cultural Studies, Islamic or Christian Religious Studies, Theology, etc), not lower than a Second Class Lower Division, from a recognized university.
All candidates shall be subjected to a selection process.
Candidate must possess a good Masters’ degree in Religion or its variants from a recognized university, with a CGPA not below 3.5 on a five-point scale. Candidates who did not make up to 3.5 will be required to register for the M.Phil/PhD programme. Such candidates must present two seminars and a research proposal for grading and must score a minimum CGPA of 3.5 before proceeding to the Ph.D, otherwise the M.Phil degree should be awarded upon the submission of thesis. This thesis should be examined following the procedure of a Ph.D Thesis.
M.A.
a) The full-time Masters programme would run a minimum of three semester, and a maximum of four semesters.
b) The part time Masters programme would run for a minimum of four semesters and a maximum of six semesters.
Ph.D
a) The full-time Ph.D programme would run for a minimum of six semesters, and a maximum of eight semesters.
b) The part time Ph.D programme would run for eight semesters and maximum of ten semesters.
