phronesis
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« on: May 31, 2010, 21:18:58 PM » |
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HAVE YOUR SAY
That there is discrimination between university degrees and higher national diploma (HND) is not new; what is perhaps new is how the discrimination has made HND holders to be more refined in their approach to practical discipline. They now combine the theoretics with the practical aspect of their professions, as everyone now does all he or she can to meet up with university standard and employer’s expectation.
In a recent job recruitment survey, of the 25 shortlisted candidates for an interview, three were selected. Two were from the polytechnic while one was a university graduate.
Though questions of the HND certificate being inferior to a university degree is yet to be addressed by government and employers of labour, recent reports, however, indicate that there is preference in terms of what is actually needed.
Though no formal policy has been made on this, government and employers prefer practical oriented courses to be handled by HND holders, while administrative courses are left for the universities.
In the civil service scale, entry level for B.Sc. holders is Level 8 Step 3, while for HND, it is Level 8 Step 2. There is also the subtle discrimination in the labour market, which has been christened ‘discrimination within discrimination.’
No thanks to the priority given toFederal university graduates as against their counterparts from states-owned universities, the same way state university graduates are preferred to their private university counterparts, which many view as barbaric and anti-developmental to the economic growth of the nation.
It is already being speculated that the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is designed with discriminatory content. Some are of the opinion that if a candidate’s score does not meet the university cut-off, such will be sent to the polytechnic and on the other hand, if the score doesn’t meet the polytechnic requirement, the candidate will be dispatched to the college of education.
The banks are the toast of polytechnic alumni regardless of the institution attended, but the banks have been criticised severely for encouraging the said discrimination as they pay polytechnic graduates much less than their university counterparts. Employing HND holders is to the banks, a good way of maximizing profits.
The bottomline is that irrespective of the class of the degree, whether the individual studied administrative or practical-oriented courses in the university or polytechnic, employers should allow both undergo due process and thorough scrutiny. This will afford them a better chance to pick the right candidate among the multitude.
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