Though the event was held to announce that 30 programmes of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) have finally been accredited by NUC after years of power tussle, it was largely overshadowed by the executive secretary's statement that because many students were studying illegally under the part-time programme system it had been suspended.
Professor Julius Okojie at the event said: "Many students study illegally under the part-time programme system. Very soon we would do staff and student audit. For now all part-time programmes have been suspended. We are going to streamline them, no university should have more than 20 per cent of their student population on part time with excess capacity to teach. All part-time programmes must be located on campus. We do not want satellite campuses anymore."
Since then, mixed reactions have trailed the announcement. With most people confused about what type of part-time programmes - undergraduate, postgraduate or sandwich - have been suspended? Also, what would be the fate of those who are already enrolled in these programmes.
Although Okojie has refused to make any further comments on the matter, the Deputy Director Information, Ibrahim Yakasai, said there are guidelines for the operation of part-time programmes which the commission would soon issue and those who are currently enrolled under the part-time programme system of education would not be affected by the suspension.
Daily Trust's findings show that although this is coming as news to many Nigerians, it is not the first time the NUC has made such move to regulate part-time programmes in universities. As far back as 2007, the commission conducted an accreditation of part-time programmes in universities. It was what led to a legal battle between the commission and Lagos State University (LASU) when the former asked the university to close down its part-time programmes and satellite campuses and refused to re-accredit some of it's courses. This was finally enforced under Governor Babatunde Fashola's administration.
There have been various complaints about the administration of part-time programmes in universities. It has been alleged that universities admit more part-time students than regular students and charge them exorbitantly as a means of generating revenue internally. Also, since the programme is not under the watchful eyes of NUC, many irregularities occur such as students not meeting the minimum requirement for attendance yet sitting for examinations and affiliate or satellite mushroom campuses been opened indiscriminately, without recourse to the commission's guidelines. Universities also use unqualified teachers and inadequate facilities to run these programmes.
Investigation by Daily Trust revealed that as it stands now, NUC has clamped a moratorium on admission of students into part-time programmes. But programmes run by the National Open University of Nigeria and the approved Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Centres in the University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, University of Maiduguri, University of Abuja and the Moddibo Adama University of Technology, Yola, were exempted from the new measures.
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