The National Board for Technical Education - NBTE has commended the Centre for Advanced Library and Information Management CALIM for quality education being administered at the college. Dr. (Mrs) Kubura Jauro, a Deputy Director and the inspectorate team leader firmly affirmed this after their interaction with the students during the accreditation inspection tour to CALIM Enugu. According to her, the level of knowledge and experience exhibited by the students speaks volume of the quality of lecturers and the training received at the Centre. Students were appreciative of the lecturers and glad to be part of the institution.
The team among other things, inspected the take off campus from the gate to the entire building including the school library, the registry, hostel, clinic, school curriculum, student records, and others. It was a two-day intensive check to ensure that everything required for final accreditation is in place. The team was impressed on the level of achievements recorded so far by the Centre. However, they pointed out some grey areas that needed attention to aid the smooth running of the school which includes low enrolment, scheme of service, staff development, autonomy and others. Dr. Jauro finally on behalf of the verification team and the Board thanked the entire Management of CALIM for the warm reception and hospitality accorded them. She also commended the staff for their cooperation which facilitated quick completion of the assignment while wishing CALIM management a fruitful result from the Board.
While appreciating the team for their kind words and advice, the Provost, Prof. Chinwe Anunobi promised that attention would be given to the grey areas pointed out. She emphasized that with NBTE approval, the issue of low enrolment will be surmounted as it will build up trust by students, parents and the community. On the issue of autonomy, she stated that the Centre is still being supported financially by the mother agency until they are ready to stand on their feet then staff on acting capacity will be confirmed. One of the issues pointed out by the team is local content which the Provost noted, saying that curriculum is a benchmark. She promised to improve on the curriculum depending on the needs of the department and the society.
Other members of the team include, Dr. Ngozi Okelekwe, the Zonal Director South East, Mr. Nsan Tiku Nsan, DD (MPSD) NBTE, Hajia Salima Mohammed, programme officer NBTE. Others are, Dr. (Mrs) Nkechi Idoko, Resource Person ESUT and Mr. Gwunyenga Innocent, Resource Person/Registrar Federal Cooperative College Oji River. They were accompanied by Mrs Martina Egwuibe, Head of Branch Kaduna who has been coordinating the movement.
Recall that CALIM Enugu was established 1993 while academic programmes kicked off in April 2023 with the 2022/2023 academic session. CALIM started with only nine students but now students enrolment has increased to twenty six both full and part time students, having been permitted by JAMB in 2024 to also run on a part time basis.
It may interest you to know that students of CALIM Enugu cut across different parts of the country having students from Gombe, Bauchi, Jos, Abuja, Edo to mention but a few, bringing students from different cultures to learn together.
CALIM was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in January 2020 and got provisional accreditation from the National Board for Technical Education NBTE in 2021 to commence academic programmes. In 2022, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board enlisted it on the Central Admissions Processing System thereby enabling interested applicants registering for UTME to chose CALIM as their choice. The first set of students were therefore admitted and commenced learning in 2023. The Centre now has a well-equipped standard library, male and female hostel and before now it has been adopted by JAMB as a CBT Center.
CALIM has solved the challenge of students spending extra year at home as a result of low scores in JAMB. Hence with a minimum of 100 scores and five credits, one is sure of being admitted.
Gracefully, CALIM will be graduating her first set of students by the second quarter of this year 2025.
It is hopeful that with the anticipated approval of NBTE, CALIM will be qualified to offer Higher National Diploma and also expand its curriculum to accommodate other related courses. With this accreditation, it is hopeful that CALIM will gain more recognition, trust and patronage.