INTRODUCTION OF ONLINE DEGREE AND OUTRAGEOUS FEE. I read a report last year on the various steps NUC had taken to make education accessible to more Nigerians and the planned introduction of FULLY ONLINE studies in our universities but I was quick to dismiss it as the usual noisemaking. I was going through the dailies this morning when I saw a news item about the planned commencement of online degree program which is the brain child of NUC. I immediately consulted my “oracle” and was stunned to learn that the program will admit it first set in the next academic calendar. NUC partnered with Park Associate E-learning Group and four universities (University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, University of Maiduguri and the National Open University of Nigeria) are participating in the initial take off of the program. JAMB said the program would later be expanded to include other courses and extended to other federal universities in the coming years depending on the success of the initial program. The program is billed to commence on the 19th of next month and applicants are required to register through JAMB after meeting the cut off mark. Only B.Sc Economics will be offered initially and other courses are billed to follow later on. This I think is a welcome development considering the plight of thousands of qualified candidates that are yearly denied spaces in our institutions of higher learning. It also gladdens my heart that my country is making use of technology to solve its own problems aside changing people bias against online degrees. However, I found the tuition for this program outrageous: asking students to cough out #200,000 after paying the application fees of #10,000 is not only inhumane but callous. The program is going to make use of existing universities infrastructure with reduced overhead and personnel cost and as such I expect its tuition to be at most HALF what is obtainable in other federal universities. If an individual- Shai Reshef could commit so much of his personal wealth to establish University of the People-the first tuition free online university, I see no reason why the government can’t do the same for her citizens. Charging this outrageous fee will only discourage more people from enrolling in the program thus defeating the purpose of the program. Prof. Okojie can bear me witness that high tuition has an inverse relationship with university enrollment in Nigeria (Case of LASU and Private Universities). The policy makers need to act now and prevent the flop of this program as education should be a social responsibility of the government to her citizen and not a profit making one.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 18:49:57 +0000
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