UK and EU accreditation for training centres in Nigeria

Why Nigerian providers ask about this

This is written for private colleges, skills centres and professional academies in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Kano, including those already delivering OTHM, Qualifi or ATHE diplomas.

Plenty of schools in Lagos and Abuja already teach diplomas from UK awarding organisations. The enquiries we get usually fall into two groups. Some schools want to add their own programme beside the UK diploma, with a level of its own. Others want a European level, because their graduates are applying for jobs and further study in Europe as well as the UK.

Trust matters more than usual here. In January 2024 the Federal Government suspended the evaluation of degree certificates from Benin and Togo after a certificate racketeering investigation, and said it would look at other countries too. Employers noticed. A certificate that can be checked against a public register, in a country with a known regulator, is worth more after that than it was before.

What Nigerian rules say

For degrees, the National Universities Commission sets the rules through its guidelines on transnational education. They allow ten models, from twinning and branch campuses to franchise and teaching centres, with three conditions that matter for a private provider:

• The foreign university must be recognised in its home country for the purpose of offering degree programmes.
• The Nigerian partner must be an approved Nigerian university.
• NUC approval has to be obtained before the collaboration is finalised.

So a private training company cannot simply partner with a foreign university and start offering its degree. That is not what any of the routes below do, and we would not help with it.

Vocational training sits with the National Board for Technical Education. It regulates the Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework, which has six levels, and it accredits private vocational providers against curricula built on national skills standards. We did not find a published NBTE route for recognising a foreign awarding body's qualifications, so treat a UK or Malta qualification as something that adds to Nigerian recognition rather than replacing it.

Sources: NUC transnational education guidelines, NBTE, and press reports of the 2024 suspension, linked below. Checked 28 October 2026. We could not confirm whether the Benin and Togo suspension is still in force.

The three routes, seen from Nigeria

Route 1: approved centre

If you already teach a UK diploma, you know this route. If you do not, it is the fastest way to offer a regulated qualification. The awarding organisation approves your policies, staff and premises or platform, then samples your marking before certificates are issued. Ofqual has said that qualifications offered overseas are protected by its regulation so long as they are also taken by learners in England, so check the qualification on the Register first. Ask each awarding organisation for its fee list for Nigeria, because international fees can differ from the UK ones.

Route 2: put your own programme on a UK framework

If you have built your own diploma or professional qualification, each of the four UK nations has a way to give it a level. They are not equally open to a school whose learners are all in Nigeria. In Scotland, a credit rating body can place it on the SCQF with credit points, one for every ten notional hours. In Wales, a CQFW competent body can endorse it and confirm its level. England and Northern Ireland are harder. An awarding organisation can make your programme a regulated qualification, but there is a snag: Ofqual says it can't regulate one that nobody sits in England or Northern Ireland. If all your learners are in Nigeria, that rules it out. And whoever you go to will ask to see the outcomes, the assessment and how you check quality. Each body sets its own fees and its own rules on programmes from abroad, and we ask before any work begins.

Route 3: Malta accreditation

Through our partner institute in Malta, your programme goes to MFHEA under the institute's licence. If it is approved, your learners study most of it online from Nigeria and complete a short in-person block in Malta. The institute issues the award and names your school as delivery partner. The current licence covers Levels 1 to 4, and higher levels depend on MFHEA approving the institute's extension to higher education.

What we would suggest

• Keep degree ambitions and professional certificates separate. If you want to offer a foreign degree in Nigeria, the NUC route through an approved Nigerian university is the one that counts.
• For professional and vocational programmes, use a UK or Malta level to show the standard, and say clearly on your site who issues the certificate and where it can be checked.
• If you are building your own qualification, write the full programme first. Exam papers alone will not get past any regulator or rating body.

Apollo Accreditation is a consultancy. It is not a regulator or an awarding organisation and does not award qualifications. Nigerian rules change, so confirm the current position with the NUC or NBTE before you act on it.