Professional Appraisal of Radiography Clinical Education Standards at Universities in the North Central Zone

The quality of clinical radiography education determines the competency and professional readiness of new graduates entering the Nigerian radiography workforce, and the clinical education standards across North Central Nigerian university radiography programmes require professional appraisal to inform accreditation improvement and curriculum reform. This study professionally appraises radiography clinical education standards at four universities offering radiography programmes in the North Central zone: University of Jos, University of Ilorin, Bingham University, and Federal University Lafia. A professional educational audit design is applied, assessing clinical placement structure, supervisor-to-student ratios, clinical competency assessment tools, placement site quality criteria, clinical logbook compliance, and student clinical learning environment quality against NUC benchmark academic standards and NRBN accreditation requirements. Surveys of 65 final-year students and 40 clinical placement supervisors supplement the document review. Descriptive statistics and gap analysis are computed in SPSS. Available clinical radiography education literature from North Central Nigeria identifies insufficient clinical placement hours in high-technology modalities (CT, MRI, mammography) and inconsistent clinical supervisor training as the most prevalent clinical education quality gaps. The NUC Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards for Radiography and the EFRS European Qualifications Framework for Radiography provide the professional reference. Findings are expected to reveal compliance gaps in clinical hour requirements and competency assessment tool standardisation. Recommendations address shared clinical placement network development, standardised clinical supervisor training, and cross-institutional clinical competency benchmarking across North Central radiography programmes. Keywords: radiography clinical education, accreditation standards, North Central Nigeria, NUC benchmarks, student competency.