Let us talk about professional courses in Nigeria.
Agriculture is a professional course.
Oh, see you! You just agreed, and then you disagree? This is 2025; you need to stop the guessing game! Up your career game today, and make the best career choice.
Before you leave this page, let’s run through the top 15 professional courses in 2025. By the end of this article, you’d have learnt the common professional courses, their benefits, and how to choose the best of them all.
What are Professional Courses?
Professional courses are those courses that have industry specific curriculum, require fully grounded skills, and firsthand experience to pursue a career. They often require certain field experiences and proper scrutiny through examinations, conducted by professional bodies before a degree is offered.
Unlike general courses, professional courses usually require license or certification that qualifies one to practice in an industry. This makes them higher in demand and more competitive among students and employers.
Studying professional courses can be rewarding, as they are high in demand, and consequently in rewards. In the next section of this article, we will talk more about the reasons why you should pursue a professional course.
Why Study Professional Courses?
Aside from being in high demand, especially in Nigeria, professional courses are also considered prestigious, noble and reputable. And in a very diverse and developing country like Nigeria, studying professional courses opens for you several job opportunities as skilled professionals are never enough in any sector.
Top Professional Courses in Nigeria to Study in 2025
Below is a list of professional courses you may consider.
- Engineering: This is a broad field of study that has in depth and varying requirements. This field is highly essential in ensuring the countries infrastructures are properly built by the citizens of Nigeria themselves. The branches include;
- Computer Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Agricultural Engineering
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Medicine: This is almost all science students’ dream course. Most students wish to become medical doctors. Don’t blame them, it’s prestigious to be referred to as doctors. Anyone who aims to diagnose patients of diseases, prescribe medications to them, and help them get healthier should consider studying medicine. Like Engineering, Medicine also has several branches. They include;
- Community Medicine
- Orthopedics
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Psychiatry
- Ophthalmology
- Cardiology
- Hematology
- Neurology
- Emergency Medicine
- General Surgery
- Family Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Internal medicine
- Anesthesiology
- Dentistry: This is often taken as a branch of medicine, but it’s different. Dentistry is a medical course that stands on its own like medicine, nursing, and physiotherapy. It involves study of the care of oral diseases, prevention and diagnosis. If you are looking to care for the teeth and its sister component, then dentistry is for you. Dentistry also has specializations, but are usually studied after a degree in dentistry has been bagged.
- Physiotherapy & Occupational therapy: This is not so common in Nigeria, but it is a beautiful medical course that involves the use of physical techniques to help patients heal from an injury, a deformity, or even a disability. Unlike the popular saying that physiotherapists are gym masters, Physiotherapists are professionals specialized in muscle, bone and nerve alignment. Occupational therapy is just the same as physiotherapy, except that it is profession specific.
- Nutrition and Dietetics: This focuses on food and its effect on human’s health and overall wellbeing.
- Agriculture: You are surprised to see this here? Don’t be. Agriculture, although not so valued in Nigeria, is a great professional course that involves the study of crops, as in Crop Science; animals, as in, Animal Science; and the management of these studies, as in Agricultural Economics.
- Nursing: Nursing is all about care for patients. Nursing is really marketable, especially with the current trend of insufficient nurses at hospitals.
- Medical Laboratory science: It involves running medical tests on patients for proper diagnostics to be made on a patient.
- Computer Science: It is a science that deals with study of mathematical models, data analysis, algorithms, and computational theory.
- Architecture: Architecture involves drafting and designing a building plan. They can be said to be the brain behind every building construction. This is also a science related course.
- Pharmacy: This is a field that teaches drug components and manufacturing, in relation to various diseases and human health.
- Management and Accounting/Finance: This course is highly essential in both private and public sectors as accounting/finance professionals are required in every business set-up. Nigerian economy is wide growing, and thus, more accounting professionals are required. Accounting majorly for those in the commercial/social sciences department.
- Business Administration & Public Administration: These two are closely related, except that Business Administration revolves round private sector, commercial enterprises, and profitable organizations; while Public Administration revolve round operations within the governmental organizations and non-profit organizations, and how they affect the general public.
- Law: This is another noble course most youth wish to study. It’s safe to say this is the big fish in arts and humanities. Isn’t it beautiful to be tagged a lawyer, magistrate, judge, or legal advisors? You may even grow to become the Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
- Journalism: Do you want to be a newscaster, a radio/TV presenter? Then journalism is for you.
Tips for Choosing the Right Professional Courses
- Passion: The essence of passion cannot be overemphasized in the success and fulfillment of an individual. The first thing to do before choosing a career path is consider your interests.
- Strength & Talent: Now that you know what interests you, check how naturally skilled you are in your interests. Hammering on your strength is not the full right to success, but it eases your path to success.
- Employment Demand: You wouldn’t like to be stranded seeking jobs after studying any course, so employment demand is another consideration you should put in place.
Universities Offering Professional Courses in Nigeria
The following universities offer professional courses for aspiring students;
- Obafemi Awolowo University
- University of Ilorin
- Osun State University
- Kwara State University
- University of Ibadan
- University of Lagos
- Lagos State University
- Ekiti State University
- Olabisi Onabanjo University
- University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Conclusion
In conclusion, pursuing a professional course is a smart decision to make, as it not only puts a smile on your face but also fattens your pocket. After making your decision, learn more about the course you desire.
FAQs
- What professional courses is the most noble?
Any of the aforementioned courses can be considered noble, depending individual preferences and perspectives.
- Is Agriculture a professional course?
Yes. Even though it is not so valued among Nigerian youths due to mechanization, Agriculture is still a professional course that requires a periodic field experience before anyone can earn a degree in it.
- Is Computer Science a professional course?
Yes, Computer Science is a professional course. It offers first-hand knowledge and experience about computers and their functions.
- How long does it take to study professional courses in Nigeria?
It depends on your choice of course. It takes at least 4 years and at most, 6 years to study any professional course at a Bachelor’s degree. The number of years increases as one delves deeper into the course. The further you study, the more honor and specialization you gain.
- Are there online professional courses in Nigeria?
Yes, professional courses can be taken online. However, for courses like Agriculture, Medicine, and Engineering that require practical field work, it is better to attend a conventional university.
- Which professional course has the most job opportunities?
Nursing is the most marketable course as its services are highly required in all hospitals, be it private or public.
- Which professional course has the highest salary?
Engineering has the highest salary. The basic salary of an Engineer is ₦250,000. This price varies with the field of study one ventures into.
