Senate begins amendment of the Open University Act.16/01/2017

The Nigerian senate has reaffirmed its commitment to uplift the
standard of open universities through necessary legislations to enable
it compete favourably with similar universities in the world.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND,
Senator Jibril Barau, who stated this during a one day public hearing
on amendment of the law establishing the National Open University of
Nigeria (NOUN), explained that "the senate will create an enabling
environment to make NOUN the best in the world."

Senator Barau noted that the essence of the public hearing was to make
the law to provide a platform for online tuition as a method of
instruction in order to ease the troubles associated with the
traditional ways of teaching and bring about efficiency, convenience,
flexibility and effectiveness in Open University system.

"As a foremost university that has brought education to the door steps
of many individuals and has made learning easier for all, this
amendment is apt, timely and in tune with the global best practices,"
Senator Barau assured.
He added that it will reposition the Open University for better
service delivery and help in producing quality graduates for the
Nigerian society.

The public hearing was organised by the Senate Committee on Tertiary
Education and TETFUND on the Bill for an Act to amend the National
Open University Act, No 6 of 1983, to provide for the inclusion of ICT
as another means of providing tuition in the National Open University
of Nigeria throughout the country.

It involves amendment of relevant sections of the Act including
Section three (3) of the principal act that mandates the University to
establish 774 community study centres in all the Local Government
Areas of Nigeria.

Vice Chancellor of the National Open University, Abuja, Professor
Abdallah Adamu, in his submission urged the senate to amend the act to
incorporate requirements that must be met by would be community
-study -centre hosts, including undertaking the responsibility of
providing 80 percent of infrastructure as well as structural materials
required for the establishment of such centres.

Other areas which need to be considered for amendment as disclosed at
the public hearing, deals with the issue of admission into the
University, a situation which according to Professor Adamu, has been a
source of standing controversy between NOUN and the Joint Admission
and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

It revealed that the inclusion of such concepts as "correspondence and
part-time" give the impression that NOUN is not a full university but
a temporary means of acquiring education. Professor Adamu argued that
"for the fact that the law gives room for the establishment of study
centres which allows for interactions between the school and the
students, it cannot be termed part time."

According to the University Don, "provisions of the Act which call for
amendment when addressed and passed by the National Assembly including
the establishment of more community study centres will further
legitimize academic programs of the National Open University which has
already established about 78 study centres and has received over five
thousand (5000) requests for the establishment of community study
centres.

"If the Act is amended and accepted for instance, the problem of our
students not being called to bar by the Nigerian Law School will
become history, because for now the law school considers our law
program as a correspondence course, while the National Youth Service
Corps sees us as part-time, but with the amendment we are seeking will
address these problems," he explained.

In this development, The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has called for the
inclusion of Information Communication Technology (ICT) among courses
offered by the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
Saraki said that if included, it would advance learning in the
institution across the Nigeria.
He made the call on Monday at the opening of a public hearing on "The
National Open University Act amendment Bill 2016'' organised by the
Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TetFund, in Abuja.
The President of the Senate, who was represented by the Chief Whip,
Sen. Olushola Adeyeye, said that the amendment of the Act would
strengthen the capacity of the university to deliver on its goal.
He said that the pivotal role of higher education as an underlined
principle of moral education could not be over-emphasised, adding that
the major thrust of the amendment bill was to improve on the existing
legislation.
According to Saraki, studies have shown that increase in students'
exposure to ICT through curriculum integration has significant and
positive impact on their achievements, especially in knowledge and
comprehension of skills.
"It is on this basis that the establishment of the National Open
University in July, 1983 as a springboard for open and distance
learning in Nigeria was conceived.''
He said that the university as it was currently ran depended on
virtual learning and students individual research hence the need for
improvement and introduction of helpful learning tools as presented by
ICT.
He stated that so far, the success of the university was the most
encouraging, adding that Nigerians must not lose sight of the fact
that the global organisation of education was constantly evolving.
Saraki explained that NOUN provided access and flexibility to those,
who ordinarily would not have had the opportunity to get formal
education.
He therefore called for support from the legislators for the amendment
of the bill.
He also called for updating of laws and policies to give valuable
support to Nigeria's quest for improved quality learning.
Earlier, Chairman of the Committee on Tertiary Education and TetFund,
Sen. Jibrin Barau, said that the deployment of and penetration of ICT
had eased the way of doing business and had modified the traditional
means of communication.
Barau explained that the introduction of a platform to provide online
tuition as a method of instruction would bring efficiency and
convenience in the Open University system.
"As a foremost university that has brought education to the doorsteps
of many individuals and has made learning easier for all, this
amendment is apt, timely and in tune with the global best practices,"
he said.
He said that amendment of the bill would also help to reposition the
institution for better services, and help in producing quality
graduates for Nigeria.
In his submission, Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Abdallah
Adamu, said that the university was established to be
technologically-driven.
He said that though ICT had been incorporated in the new amendment,
the biggest area of concern to the institution was the inclusion of
"Correspondent'' on the bill in reference to students of the school.
"This gives the impression that we are not a full-time university,
making us to be seen as part time.
"They give us the impression of temporariness rather than permanence,"
Adamu said.
He disclosed that the institution had 78 study centres with a total of
254, 000 students' enrolment across the country.
"This is the only university that provides thousands of people
opportunity to acquire university education without having to leave
their work."
Adamu said that the new amendment should also include Open and
Distance Learning (ODL) to clear the impression that the institution
was not carrying out full-time programmes.
Similarly, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission
(NUC), Prof. Adamu Rasheed, said that the challenges of access to
conventional Nigerian universities were not new to Nigerians.
Rasheed, who was represented by Dr Olamide Adesuwa, Director, Open and
Distant Education of NUC, said that the low percentage of admissions
into universities in the country necessitated the establishment of the
NOUN.
According to him, global best practices in distance education have
shown that it had moved from correspondence to leveraging on ICT.
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Dosmay:
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