DELSU VC, Prof Andy Egwunyenga Lauds NUC Effort In Regulating Nigerian Universities

The Vice-Chancellor of Delta State University, Abraka (DELSU), Professor Andy Egwunyenga has applauded the well thought out and organized approach by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in regulating the Nigerian University system thereby making it competitive and keeping pace with global trends and practices, Myschoolnews report.

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Professor Egwunyenga was speaking on Friday at the Faculty of Education Boardroom where he received in audience an NUC resource verification team to assess the University’s readiness to commence a second mode of learning described as open distance and e-learning to expand its reach of potential students.

The Professor of Parasitology and Public Health expressed pride at its organic relationship with the regulatory agency from which the University had learnt tremendously. While recalling earlier efforts by some institutions at open and distance learning, he commended the pioneering efforts of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), which in the 1970s, launched its Correspondence and Open Studies Unit (COSU), noting that the country was in the third stage of the e-learning experiment.

Professor Egwunyenga, in his last year as Vice-Chancellor, explained that DELSU, after 31 years of existence, was desirous of including the open distance and e-learning as another mode of instruction, adding that it was never too late to make a positive contribution. He remarked that the NUC resource verification exercise was aimed at making the programme better, as much had been done to meet the high standard set by the NUC. “Your assessment is to make us better, to help us grow”, he noted.

Speaking on behalf of the NUC team, as permitted by the leader of the team, Professor Ganiyat Uthman, a Professor of Economics at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Engr. Kayode Odedina, Director of Open, Distance and E-learning at the NUC observed that the team had the mandate to verify the resources on ground to ascertain whether the University had sufficient resources in terms of facilities, infrastructure, staff, curriculum to mount the programme. He explained that the conventional mode of teaching tended to be teacher-centred, while distance learning was learner-centred, as students studied at their own pace and time.

While providing a historical background, Engr. Odedina, who holds a PhD, explained that distance learning started at the University of London in 1846, as many Nigerians, including foremost nationalist, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, obtained their degrees through distance learning.

Engr. Odedina insisted that preparing course materials for open and distance learning required special skills and must be taken seriously. He further stated that they should be carefully prepared, interactive and comprehensive in nature so as to enable students derive maximum benefits from such course materials. Given the technological advancement in the past few years, Engr. Odedina was of the opinion that course materials should also be prepared in mixed media format, flash drive, DVD, learning management systems and others.

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Essentially, he said the University was expected to provide facilities that would provide ICT enabled materials so learners who could download them as often as required. He also informed that the Federal Government preferred a system where there would be a modicum of face-to-face interactions between the lecturers and their students. Other senior officials of the University who were at the occasion were the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor (Mrs) Rosemary Okoh; Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ochuko Anomohanran; the Provost of Oleh Campus, Professor Elo Ibagere; the Bursar, Mrs. Otimeyin Ekakite-Omojuwa, and the University Librarian, Dr. (Mrs) Josephine Onowhakpo; among others.

The NUC team had four members including Professor Mrs. Ganiyat Uthman, the Leader; Mrs. Mustapha Tataba and Chinyere Ekechukwu and their spokesman, Engr. Odedina.