Between policy mandate and institutional autonomy: A collaborative reflective analysis of CCMAS implementation in a Nigerian public university

The introduction of the Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) marks a major policy shift in the governance of undergraduate education in Nigeria, which redefines the balance between regulatory control by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and institutional curriculum autonomy offered by relevant enabling laws. While implementation commenced across many universities in 2023, variations in institutional timelines reveal the complex realities of policy enactment within higher education systems. This paper presents a collaborative reflective analysis of the early-stage implementation of CCMAS in a Nigerian public university—the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, that began formal rollout in October 2025—almost two years after the latest timeline for kick-off. This present work, which is conceptually anchored in policy enactment theory and the micropolitics of educational reform, interprets implementation as a negotiated process shaped by institutional culture, governance structures, and professional identities. Drawing on the authors’ positionality as academic participants within the reform process, the paper critically examines how policy mandates are translated, mediated, and adapted within institutional contexts. The reflective analysis surfaces key thematic concerns, including tensions between compliance and autonomy, institutional readiness, procedural and bureaucratic layering, stakeholder sense-making, and emergent pedagogical and administrative challenges. By positioning delayed implementation not as inertia but as an instance of institutional interpretation and strategic adaptation, the paper contributes to theoretical conversations on policy translation, organisational change, and curriculum governance in higher education. It further illuminates how reform is enacted through situated practices and negotiated meanings, offering insider-informed insights into the dynamics of large-scale curriculum transformation in resource-constrained and tradition-oriented university settings.