Comparative assessment of university chemistry undergraduate curricula in south-western Nigeria

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the structure of undergraduate chemistry curricula of universities in the southwest of Nigeria with a view to establishing the relative proportion of the different areas of chemistry each curriculum accommodates. It is a qualitative research, involving content analysis with a partial quantitative analysis in terms of numbers of courses of different status in each curriculum. Five federal, three states and two private universities offering Pure Chemistry, were purposely selected. Frequency counts and percentages were used to present the quantitative results. The areas of chemistry covered are Introductory, Inorganic, Physical, Organic, and Quantum and Analytical chemistry. Some direct applications of chemistry include courses in Environmental, Industrial, Polymer, Rubber and Brewing Technology. However, there are discrepancies with respect to  comprehensiveness of courses’ contents in the different areas of chemistry. The federal and private universities adhere more strictly with the National University Commission (NUC) respective course content requirement. All the universities, except one, do not have 100% compliance with respect to total number of compulsory, elective and practical courses. The universities are enjoined to have 100% compliance with NUC guidelines and may include varieties of elective courses to meet the different career aspirations of the chemistry undergraduates.