Pursuance to the tripodal mandate of teaching, research, and extension services of UNAAB, and in line with the mission and vision of the university, the philosophy of (APU) is to enhance efficiency in the mandate of the university and to ensure the generation, dissemination, and publication of qualitative ideas, information and knowledge. This is with the ultimate objective of;

• Ensuring the compliance of university with the National Universities Commission (NUC) guideline on academic matters.
• Ensuring the provision of conducive teaching, learning and research environment for staff and students.
• Ensuring efficient and effective utilization of academic resources and;
• Enhancing the conformity of the university with NUC and indeed international academic standards

The (APU) is under the Vice-Chancellor’s office and its Director is responsible to the Vice-Chancellor; the duties of the unit includes;

1. serve as quality control unit of the university
• guiding each unit on the operation of the university academic brief (an academic plan of programmes and services which documents the university’s philosophy, mission, aims, objectives, academic pattern, curriculum , organizational structure and future growth and development plans.
• Seek clarifications from NUC on academic matters and feedback the Vice-Chancellor and appropriate organ of the university e.g senate and Academic Planning Committee.
• Study and analyze how the university and the units within it are complying with NUC’s parameters for fund allocation
• Obtaining up-to-date, relevant and accurate data for processing and generating information to guide university management for accurate and timely decision-making on university matters ( e.g staff  and students records, financial records, research output e.t.c )

2. the unit also performs other functions such as ;
• Evaluation of proposal for new academic programme for submission to the Academic Planning Committee, Senate and the NUC.
• Coordination and collation of information on NUC-funded research by academic staff.
• Involved in the preparation and procurement and distribution of examination materials.
• Performing any other function that may be directed by the Vice-Chancellor.

In line with the NUC guideline, the Academic Planning Unit performs five pivotal roles which as such as sub-divided the unit into the following section/operational unit.

1. Academic resource planning section; handles collection, analysis, and interpretation of data from relevant university bodies. Periodic updating of information data base as well as annual updating, projection , analysis, and interpretation of financial data to assist the bursar in preparing annual budget.
2.  Academic programme/feedback planning section; collecting relevant data on changing trends on university activities-enrolments, staff training, turn-over e.t.c. participating in university curricula revision as well as helping the university in producing long-term, medium-term, and short-time academic briefs and/or plan modeling of such plans against reality and university goals.
3. Process planning section; using collected data for making projections and advising the university on areas of dire concern and alert. And also assisting the NUC and the university in identifying new guidelines and criteria modifying existing ones e.t.c , for annual resource allocation , and as the Vice-chancellor may direct.
4. Institutional research, statistics and publication section; collection and storage of publication of statistical nature from other universities. Preparation of research materials/papers on the basis of data supplied to it from the feedback planning section. Analysis and interpretation of university annual and trend statistics. Publication of university records, statistics, and research reports as may be directed/ approved by the Vice-Chancellor.
5. Secretarial service section; undertakes secretarial duties including word processing, typing, management of general office, proper storage of staff files, as well as storage of office records.

 
Staffing

Some of the routine activities of the Academic Planning Unit (APU) and their importance/ usefulness is itemized below;

1. Data Bank

The unit has been able to generate and periodically update data bank containing the following statistics which are useful to the institutional management as indicated below;

2. Accreditation.

The Academic Planning Unit (APU) coordinates and guide all the academic unit/departments in the university for the purpose of programme accreditation which is a function of the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Three (3) major accreditation exercises took place in the recent time and it put the total number of accredited programmes of the university at twenty Seven (27). The accreditation took place thus;

• Dept of Food Science & Technology in the College of Agricultural Management Rural Development & Consumer studies.
• Programmes under College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Engineering, College of Natural Sciences, as well as Bachelor of Aquaculture & Fisheries Management in the College of Environmental Resources Management.
• Programme under college of Plant Science and Crop Production, College of Animal Science and Livestock Production, Bachelor of Science in Home Science & Management in the College of Agricultural Management Rural Development and Consumers Studies, as well as Bachelor of Forestry & Wildlife Management in the College of Environmental Resources Management.

Important note;

• All programmes except veterinary Medicine & Engineering have full accreditation status.
• However, Veterinary Medicine & Engineering have interim accreditation and are due for a re-visit by the end of March, 2008.

Mention must be made of the fact that preceding each of this accreditation exercise, a mock accreditation is usually conducted to determine the readiness of the various department of the University for the Exercise.

3. Examination Materials & Processing

The processing of Examination materials was enhanced by the procurement of two(2) Risograph  machines in 2003 which were centralized in the senate building under the monitoring of Academic Planning Unit (APU). During the period no adverse report was made on the integrity of the examinations. To this end approval for the purchase of four (4) new Risograph machines was granted by the council. All the machines have since been re-distributed as follows to make the conduct of examination easy.

4. Curriculum Review/Approval

The Academic Planning Unit of the university participated in the curriculum review of the following programmes/departments.

• College of Engineering (In line with the observation of Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN).
• Department of Communication and General Studies ( to make it possible to run Postgraduate Programmes)
• College of Veterinary Medicine (In line with the observation of Veterinary Council of Nigeria ,VCN)
• Master of Information & Communication Technology MIST professional (New Programme in the Dept. of Computer Science)
• Department of Microbiology ( General review after being carved out of the Dept. of Biological Science.
• Department of Animal Physiology ( New Programme in the College of Animal Science & Livestock Production.)
• Masters in Industrial Chemistry, (M.Sc Indutrial Chemistry General Review)
• Currently drafting curriculum for the Mature Peoples Programme ( A proposed part-time programme for employees and holders of OND, HND,NCE e.t.c who desires first degree in selected field)

5. Other activities
   The (APU) liaises with the National Universities Commission (NUC) in disseminating information and providing routine data from the university such as University Systems Annual Review Meeting (URSAM), System-wide programme audit, accreditation among others. Also the Academic brief and master plan document came into effect in 1989 and have been due for review since year 2000.  The University had set in motion the review of it’s master plan From time to time, the University mandates the Unit to carryout assignments as it deems fit; participation in post-jamb screening, improvement of learning environment such as replacement of blackboards to whiteboards, light and public address fitting in lecture rooms among others