Varsity Bridging Admission Gaps Through Distance Learning Centres

The problem encountered by Nigerian students every year over admission into tertiary institutions cannot be overlooked as 60 per cent of students who write entrance exams and are qualified are unable to secure admission. This is due to the few number of tertiary institutions in the country as well as the huge number of applicants seeking admission into those institutions. This explains why some parents and candidates go to any length to ensure that they get admitted.

It is believed that the re-engineering and restructuring of open university education system vis-à-vis distance learning programme will go a long way in absorbing the increasing number of candidates applying for admission into conventional tertiary institutions in the country yearly. The Federal Government has been urged by vice chancellors to give attention to distance learning programme to enable it sustain efforts in providing access to university education to teeming Nigerians who are yearly denied admission into universities.

To address the lack of space in the nation’s universities to admit over one million students seeking admission every year, the National Universities Commission, NUC, has adopted distance learning centres by Nigerian universities and cross-border university education approach to encourage foreign universities to come to Nigeria to offer degree programmes to Nigerians. This, it believes, is one of the ways to widen access to university education in the country. This and the six new universities that the Federal government plans to establish will go a long way in offering admission places to more Nigerians desirous of university education.

According to the NUC, cross-border university education is defined as an educational service at university level provided within Nigeria’s national boundaries by foreign educational institutions singly or in partnership with local institutions through conventional, part time or e-learning modes for the purpose of awarding degrees, diplomas and certificates. It encompasses a wide range of modalities that range from face-to face learning that is taking various forms such as campuses abroad, to distance learning using a range of technologies including e-learning.

Under this new initiative, foreign universities interested in cross-border university education will have the opportunity of establishing campuses in Nigeria or collaborating with Nigerian universities to train more undergraduates.

According to a memo issued early this year, the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, said the initiative followed painstaking evaluation of the various options open to the NUC as part of its efforts to enhance access to quality university education within the framework of the General Agreement on Trade (GAT) in Services of the World Trade Organisation to which Nigeria is a signatory.

The NUC, he explained, opted for a regulated approach to the issue of cross-border provision of university education in order to protect Nigerians from exploitation by degree mills and the need to ensure the commission’s mandate of ensuring quality university education in Nigeria.

He added that NUC was fully aware of the quality assurance challenges posed by Cross-Border Higher Education, hence its decision to approve only three models of cross-border university education provisions, out of the broad range of possibilities under GATS, for implementation albeit, on a pilot basis in the country.

Under the new cross-border university option, Okojie said that the three models adopted are the twinning/articulation model, the branch campus model and the open and distance learning model. He explained that under the twinning/articulation model, recognised and accredited foreign universities and the Nigerian government would be allowed to collaborate with approved Nigerian universities to offer courses with enriched curricular content and pedagogy and or offer joint degrees or dual degrees.

“Articulation arrangement involving study on host and home campuses may be acceptable and recognised by government provided that under such arrangements, upon successful completion of an approved course of studies, students are awarded degrees of the Nigerian university.

“However, if the arrangement is such that the Nigerian students in the programme will be awarded the degree of the foreign university, then such students will be required to spend not less than two semesters or one academic year, on the overseas campus of the foreign university and this would form part of the graduation requirements,” Okojie stated.

Under the Branch Campus Model, however, the NUC boss explained that a foreign university would follow the NUC procedure for the establishment of private universities as a prerequisite to establish its campus anywhere in the country.

“Such a campus should, as much as possible, be a replica of the parent institution in the home country and must meet the standards and quality assurance requirements currently applicable to Nigerian universities,” Okojie said.

On the open and distance learning model, Okojie said that operators would be guided by the guidelines for open and distance learning in Nigerian universities to provide quality academic programme and courses, leading to the award of degrees, without the constraints of time and space within a mixed media blended learning framework.

But he added that under the new arrangements, preference would be given to split-site Ph.D. programmes, Masters Degree programmes and selected undergraduate programmes especially in science-based disciplines, in line with the Federal Government’s policy of 60:40 admission ratio in favour of science and arts courses respectively.

On how a foreign university that chooses to operate a campus in the country will operate, the NUC guideline stated that any of them that picked the Branch campus model must come with 30 per cent of the faculty members needed while the tuition would not be higher than what was obtainable in the country.

The guideline stated that the partner university in Nigeria would provide the physical infrastructure for the take-off of the programme or in conjunction with the foreign university.

“The foreign university shall provide learning support facilities for the students. The number and distribution of the facilities shall be in line with the minimum academic standards provision of the NUC.

“The fee to be charged by the foreign university shall be commensurate with what is in existence in the host country and shall take due cognizance of the local economy. The foreign university shall provide 30 per cent of the academic staff for the intended programme while the host university provides the remaining 70 per cent and in line with NUC’s approved mix by rank and ratios.

“The curriculum of the foreign university’s programme shall meet the Nigerian Minimum Academic Benchmark and provide for local content where appropriate. The home country of the foreign university must subscribe to the principle of reciprocity with Nigeria in matters of cross-border education.”

But the guideline added that before application for cross-border university education from a foreign university would be approved by the Federal Government, the home country of the foreign university should have subsisting diplomatic relationship with Nigeria and bilateral agreement that covers the provision of education at university level including mutual recognition of degrees, diplomas and certificates.

The guideline states that under the arrangement, the Federal Government would provide appropriate incentives to cross-border university education providers particularly institutions that establish branch campuses in the country.

Some of the distance learning centres that have contributed in bridging admission gaps in Nigeria and West-Africa are, University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Abuja, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, University of Nigeria, Nnsuka, National Open University among others.

— Agboola is an intern with P.M.NEWS