STRENGTHEN ODL: ACADEMIC PLANNERS URGE GOVERNMENT

STRENGTHEN ODL: ACADEMIC PLANNERS URGE GOVERNMENT

Varsities’ academic planners
urge government to strengthen
ODL
| 27 October 2016 |
NUC
The Committee of Directors of Academic Planning of
Nigerian Universities (CODAPNU), have urged the
Federal Government, through the National
Universities Commission (NUC), to increase access to
university education, by permitting more government
and private universities to run Open and Distance
Learning (ODL) programmes.
This suggestion is contained in a communiqué issued
by the group, at the end of a recent training
workshop, which took place at the University of
Abuja.
Signed by the committee chairman, Dr. Akin Adeoye,
the communiqué suggested that it was necessary to
expand access through ODL, because there were not
enough facilities in universities to accommodate all
1.7 million candidates seeking admission annually,
just as it urged government to give attention to
students-staff ratio in universities.
At the workshop, which was tagged, “Positioning
Curriculum Development and Strategic Planning
Towards Total Quality Academic Management in the
Nigerian University System,” the group stated that
Nigerian universities are yet to keep pace with
market-driven and job creation requirements of the
economy, with respect to their curriculum
development, ICT and entrepreneurship, which may
lead to unemployabilty of graduates, or
unemployment due to other factors in the labour
market.
According to the body, “The current carrying capacity
for programmes in Nigerian universities is grossly
inadequate to cater for the large number of
applicants seeking admission into the universities
yearly, if the staff /student ratio is to be addressed in
line with the best practices in the world.
The situation in the Nigerian university admissions
system, where over 1,700, 000 candidates apply for
placements and only 450,000 (about 27%) eventually
gain admission into the universities calls for great
concern,” the communiqué read.
The group, however, commended the efforts of
individuals, organisations and stakeholders in
creating access to tertiary education through the
establishment of private universities, part-time
studies, remedial studies and sandwich programmes.
Also commended by the academic planners was “the
Federal Government’s efforts in the establishment of
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), and her
readiness to provide required funding … Our Senior
academics should be encouraged to build a culture of
serious research, through exchange of scholars and
collaborations.”
The workshop recommended that governments and
other stakeholders should step up efforts aimed at
improving on physical facilities in Nigerian
universities, to enhance their carrying capacities,
while stakeholders should provide ICT driven
instructional facilities to ensure standard and quality
lectures and programme delivery in the university
system.
The communiqué added, “Government should
vigorously pursue the problem of power supply in
Nigeria as a basis for quality Academic Research and
national development. Government should invest not
less than the UNESCO recommended advisory
minimum investment guide of 26 per cent of the total
national budget to education.
In this article:
National Universities Commission ODL
Comments Community Login  1
Sort by Best
Be the first to comment.
Subscribe ✉ Add d Privacy
Recommend 
SOURCE: GUARDIAN