The National University Commission (NUC) has approved eight new courses for Salem University Lokoja.
The Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof. Alewo Johnson-Akubo, made the disclosure in an interview in Lokoja on Friday.
The VC told NAN that the university intends to commence the courses in its 2024/2025 academic session.
He listed the new programmes to include Nursing, Anatomy, Physiology, Medical Laboratory Science, Public Health, Software engineering, Cybersecurity and Data Science.
Johnson-Akubo said that the approval was communicated to the management of the university via a letter dated October 2 and signed by the acting NUC Executive Secretary, Mr Chris Maiyaki.
The vice chancellor, who expressed his gladness over the approval, described it as a welcome development that could lift the university to greater heights.
“Salem University Lokoja is growing and expanding by the day in view of the approval of more courses by NUC. It’s our belief that these eight new programmes will open up opportunities for the teeming youths to pursue their desired goals and aspirations.
“This is against the backdrop of the new trend of dearth of health personnel occasioned by the ‘japa’ and other syndromes in the country.
“Only recently, the commission issued us approval to run Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and other postgraduate programmes in Law, Accounting, Criminology and Security Studies, Business Administration, Public Administration, Microbiology, and Computer Science.
“These approvals to us are timely and very huge encouragement to us as citadel of learning in the north central zone of Nigeria,” he stated.
According to him, the approvals were in line with the mission and vision of the university as a citadel of learning.
He further said that the focus of Salem University was to train and raise change agents who were mentally alert, spiritually alive, and intellectually developed to change their world.
