National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), on Friday, matriculated 28,514 fresh students to study various programmes in different faculties of the university.
Breakdown of the figure indicated that 21,026 students are for undergraduate programmes, while 7,460 are postgraduate students. In addition, there are 28 postgraduate students that are registered for doctorate degrees.
Ibrahim Sheme, Director, Media and Publicity,
NOUN, in a statement on Friday, indicated that Registrar of the university, Mr. Oladipo Ajayi, administered the matriculation oath on the new students.
Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Olufemi Peters, in his remarks charged them to be good ambassadors of the school within and outside the school activities.
He said: “By today’s event, you have become members of our Open and Distance Learning (ODL) community that comprises about 150,000 students in 120 Study Centres across the 36 states of Nigeria, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
“Many people will be interested in your academic performance and character. I implore you, therefore, to be good and worthy ambassadors of NOUN. I look forward to congratulating you at the completion of your studies when you will join other successful colleagues at convocation ground for the award of certificates and prizes, which is your reward and evidence of preparedness to surmount challenges of life beyond our walls, virtual and physical.
“This is the wish of every new student, including his/her families, friends, stakeholders and dependants. It’s also what our country, Nigeria, needs to rise and attain its place of greatness in the global and competitive world of today and the future,” he added.
Speaking further, the VC explained that ODL system enables students to learn at their choice of place and pace, whatever their social or religious status and other engagements such as a vocation or employment. It does require the student to create the time and discipline for a copious amount of self-study.
“It is quite different from a conventional university system where you must attend lectures in a classroom or auditorium
always.”
He assured the new entrants that they would have access to a number of facilities necessary for their study, including physical and e-library facilities which provide over 40,000 titles of books and journals, facilitation rooms, science laboratories, halls for in-person and e-exams, and in some special centres, incubation facilities for entrepreneurship-minded students for their training and development at their study centres.
The Vice-Chancellor reiterated that NOUN is Nigeria’s premier ODL university, established in 1983 and resuscitated in 2003 for full operations. “It is an Open University because, irrespective of race, gender, distance or creed, it gives you the flexibility of choice over what, when, where and at the pace you wish to study, among an array of available programmes.
“To facilitate and simplify learning experience, we have a team of professional ODL administrators, facilitators, IT experts and especially guidance counsellors at the Study Centres for your consultation. Please, find the time to consult them for free advice on all matters relating to your study, especially if you encounter challenges. The earlier the better for, as they say, a stitch in time, saves nine.”
He maintained that NOUN is determined to make learning rewarding and satisfactory, saying, “If you still have challenges that you are unable to resolve at the Study Centres, we have provided an e-ticketing app which registers, assigns responsibility and channels feedback for the resolution of complaints and enquiries from the interested public, as well as existing and prospective students. You will find it very useful.”
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