The National Universities Commission has said that only 12 Nigerian universities are approved to operate both conventional learning and Open and Distance Learning.
In an interview with Premium Times, the commission also said the approved 12 universities were allowed to operate dual mode system – face to face learning and the open distance learning, noting that only a few of these universities could run an efficient online learning platform.
Out of the 43 federal universities in the country, the spokesperson for the commission, Ibrahim Yakassai, said nine were given licences to run both conventional and ODL centres in Nigeria. He added that two universities were licensed to operate both conventional and ODL centres out of the 48 state universities, and one private university out of the 79 private universities was given the licence to operate the dual-mode system.
The 12 universities that are licensed for both conventional and ODL are: Ahmadu Bello University – Federal University; University of Abuja – Federal University; University of Maiduguri- Federal University; Modibo Adama University of Technology – Federal University; Obafemi Awolowo University – Federal University; and University of Lagos – Federal University.
-Advertisement-
Others are University of Ibadan – Federal University; University of Nigeria – Federal University; Federal University of Technology, Minna – Federal University; Lagos State University – State University; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology – State University; Joseph Ayo Babalola University- Private University; and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) which operates a ‘uni-mode learning system’.
A uni-mode system simply means that the NOUN can only operate through the open and distance learning mode. The institution was not granted the license to operate dual-mode like the other 12.
Yakassai said that online mode of learning was beyond WhatsApp and Telegram groups, which most universities and students were calling online classes.
“Some universities claimed they are having lectures online since the outbreak of COVID-19. As far as we know, most universities, especially government-owned universities, cannot give the lectures online, except for a few private universities,” he said.
According to him, most of the public universities and a few private ones are not equipped for online learning. However, “they might be doing some interactions via WhatsApp and Telegram. Online classes are given in modules, and it requires expertise to develop the curriculum,” he explained.
“Universities that were approved for both conventional and ODL cannot do online, because it is different from each other. For open and distance learning, however, the techniques for online learning can be used, but they are not online,” he said.
He said some private universities with a lot of internet resources may have done some courses online because they have the facilities, and the students have corresponding gadgets.
“It is not so in some public universities where some students live in villages and do not have smartphones. A lot of private universities are having their classes online now, but we need to (have) conviction about public institutions teaching online.”
He said online classes are 100 per cent online and require a lot of data consumption which many students in public universities may not be able to afford.
“Most students in public universities live in rural areas, some do not have access to the internet and the students will need to use applications, such as Skype and Zoom for online learning.”
He said a call had gone to all universities in Nigeria to explore the possibilities of online learning.
We do everything possible to supply quality news and information to all our valuable readers day in, day out and we are committed to keep doing this.
Your kind donation will help our continuous research efforts.
-Advertisement-
-Want to get the news as it breaks?-
