Degrees obtained through open and distance learning, ODL, system have equal value with those obtained through the regular/conventional university system, the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, has said.
Mamman made the clarification at a three-day stakeholders’ Roundtable for the critique and adoption of the draft stand-alone National Policy on Open, Distance and e-Learning in Abuja, recently in Abuja.
According to him, the ODL system was established to close the widening gap created by limited admission spaces in the conventional universities which was and still being experienced in Nigerian University System, NUS.
The minister reiterated that the ODL system has come to stay and that it has served and continues to serve the purpose for which it was established.
“Sadly, only limited number of qualified students (about 25%) who applied for admissions into tertiary institutions are able to secure admissions in a particular admission year. What happens to the rest of hundreds that are interested in university education? ODL has closed that gap.
“National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has been doing amazingly well, growing in leaps and bounds over the years. Several universities have also been accredited recently to run dual mode system of education under close and strict monitoring of the National Universities Commission (NUC),” he said.
While acknowledging the concerns of some Nigerians and employers of labour about the quality of education in ODL, he assured that there’s a strong quality assurance system in place to checkmate the content and delivery system of the ODL operators.
“Evidently, ODL is the future of accessing university education and we have to embrace it wholeheartedly.
“Government has developed robust policies to address the challenges being witnessed in the ODL system of education particularly, the issue of quality assurance of the system.
“To this end, more advocacy is required, and being done to correct that misconception. We are aware that some ODL students have been unable to participate in law school and NYSC scheme. These issues are being addressed and would be resolved sooner than expected,” he said.
On his part, the Acting Executive Secretary of NUC, Mr. Chris J. Maiyaki, said that 2020 COVID-19 pandemic reawakened the consciousness of the world to the importance of online activities, thus forcing several nations including Nigeria to give considerations to online education system through the ODL aided by technology.
Maiyaki said in line with NUC’s regulatory mandate of laying down Minimum Academic Standards, it recently consummated and activated the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards, CCMAS, in the NUS.
According to him, the finalised CCMAS took into consideration the need to inculcate 21st century
