National University Commission Accredit 30 National Open University Programmes

National Universities Commission has accredited 30 programmes being offered by the National Open University of Nigeria. Acting Director, Open and Distance Education of the NUC, Dr. Suleiman Ramon-Yusuf, said this at the end of a one-day advocacy forum on the Open and Distance Learning in the Nigerian University System in Abuja on Tuesday. Ramon-Yusuf, however, explained that the status of the accreditation of each of the programmes was still being processed.

He said apart from NOUN, the University of Ibadan; Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Abuja; University of Maiduguri, Federal University of Technology, Yola and University of Lagos run ODL programmes. Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, cautioned the Senate and council of universities against the abuse of part-time and sandwich programmes. Okogie said NUC would not take kindly to institutions ignoring rules and procedures for running such programmes.

He said the commission had developed a framework to ensure standards and quality of the products of the ODL as it is obtainable in the conventional university education. Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Prof. Vincent Ado-Tenebe, said the Open and Distance Learning of Education was “the in-thing all over the world” because of the flexibility of the programme.

He said, “It is the only thing that can salvage the world’s population, because the traditional system of education where you have the classrooms can no longer contain, especially in countries like Nigeria, where the population growth is high”. He, however, said it was unfortunate that many Nigerians were yet to appreciate the window of opportunity for university education provided by ODL. –