By Henry Uche
In other to position its members to fit in for the future challenges in the corporate world, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) has just reviewed and launched new educational Syllabus as well as unveiled new Membership Certificate.
During the virtual launch in Lagos, the President /Chairman of Governing Council ICSAN, Mr. Taiwo Owokolade, said this upgrade was imperative to accommodate advancement in technology and its disruptions in global operating systems.
According to him, ICSAN is still alive to its responsibility to give its members the best training in secretaryship, corporate governance and leadership, hence the need to rigorously come up essential packages that would strategically position its members to be steps ahead of other Professionals in the corporate world.
“By virtue of our foresightedness, we deemed it necessary to make our members the pace setters by reviewing our curricula to give them the requisite knowledge and skills for the tasks ahead,”
On the institute’s new certificate, ICSAN boss maintained that it was redesigned to spot out counterfeit as the improved one with security emblem carries the picture of the bearer which provides more information at a glance than the regular one.
“The system has changed. We have to ensure that we position our members rightly as events unfold. The challenges in the environment triggered us to think of quality certificate higher than the challenges and one which has what it takes to be a modern certificate,” he stressed.
In a remark, the Chairman, Education Committee of ICSAN, Oluwole Adewunmi, said the institute partnered the Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, United Kingdom, for the preparation of their members to acquire requisite knowledge and skills.
Adewunmi noted that the previous syllabus, which was locally prepared catered to local peculiarities with minimum international standards.
He said the syllabus review was done significantly to accommodate the huge changes in the global operating environment.
“We upgraded the institute’s four core subjects areas: From corporate governance to corporate governance (Private & Public), and from just corporate administration to corporate administration and risk management.
“The third and fourth are from financial management to financial management and strategy, and from corporate secretary-ship to corporate secretary-ship and board dynamics respectively,” he said.
Similarly, the Vice Chancellor of Lead University, Ibadan, Prof. Kabiru Aderemi Adeyemo, with whom ICSAN signed an MoU, (to deepen the standards of learning and dissemination of corporate governance) believe that the new syllabus marked a new era of transformation and development for the Institute and society at large, for improvement in attitudes, orientation and behaviour of members towards greater value, professional ideals and practices.
The don said with the rapid advancements in information technology and its disruptions, the impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning have made the strategic change (tailored Curricula) imperative.
“Given the importance of curriculum development in formal education, it has become a dynamic process due to the changes that occur in our society. Globalization affects academic syllabus, hence, there is a need to update them to address the society’s needs.
“In today’s knowledge economy, curriculum development improves a country’s economy and provides answers to the world’s pressing problems, such as threats to the environment, issues on politics, socio-economic problems, and other issues related to poverty, climate change, and sustainable development,”
Adeyemo affirmed that school curriculum, particularly in higher education, must be designed to preserve its national identity and ensure its economy’s growth and stability. He noted that if universities and professional bodies have innovative curricular programs and demand in the local or global markets, many students, even from foreign countries, would enroll.
“Curriculum development means a lot in setting the direction of change in an organization, not only at the micro but also at macro levels. As long as curriculum development goals and objectives are apparent in the planner’s mind, cutting-edge achievements in various concerns can be realized.
He added that things have changed compared to even a decade ago, hence the need to adjust. “We generally don’t realize how much technology impacts almost every area of our lives. Technology has increased exponentially. This has made it look like a totally different issue in the classroom. And indeed, the super- fast progression of technology has greatly affected the current day classroom!
“The new syllabus was developed in line with the, “institute’s resolve to continue to produce future-ready Chartered Secretaries and Administrators with skills and competences desired by the market. I urge the members to uphold the tenet of transparency, accountability and integrity in the leadership of the institute,” he charged.