By Felix Khanoba
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) will on Saturday, 25th March, graduate 28,740 students at its 12th convocation ceremony.
The event will take place simultaneously at the national headquarters of the University in Abuja and study centres in states across the country.
Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Olufemi Peters, who made this known on Tuesday at a press briefing to herald the convocation ceremony as well as 20th anniversary celebration of NOUN in Abuja, said six students would be graduating with First Class degree during the convocation.
According to the erudite scholar, 2,306 students would bow out of the institution with Second Class upper division, 11,075 with Second Class lower division, 5558 – Third Class while only 279 would go home with a Pass.
Giving a further breakdown of the total figure of 28,740 graduating students, Professor Peters said 21,339 are undergraduates while 7,401 are post-graduate students, adding that 58 among them are prison inmates serving various terms in correctional centres.
“This is our 12th convocation and we are going to graduate 28,740 students for both undergraduate and postgraduate.
” We have 21,339 undergraduate students and 7,401 postgraduate students. These are quite big numbers, and this is the reason we are established – to give literacy to the Nigerian people…..
” We are graduating 58 inmates and seven are postgraduates,” the VC said, adding that inmates, who are students of NOUN in the 14 special study centres put in place for them, enjoy scholarship from the University.
Speaking on the convocation lecture scheduled for Friday, 24th March, 2023, the VC said the event would play host to Professor Puleng Lenkabula, Vice Chancellor of the University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, who will deliver the lecture.
“The theme of the lecture is ‘Volatility and Opportunities in Higher Education,’ and the person we invited is the Vice Chancellor of University of South Africa (UNISA). It is the oldest distance learning institution in the history of Africa. This year they will be marking 150 years of their existence and the Vice Chancellor is a woman. The first woman Vice Chancellor of the University, ” Professor Peters said.
On activity to mark NOUN’s 20th anniversary, the Vice Chancellor said the University will hold a roundtable discussion on Wednesday that would attract eminent Nigerians including former Vice Chancellors of the University – Professor Olugbemiro Jegede, Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, among others.
He said the theme of the conference is ‘How Far Is Open And Distance Learning In Nigeria? ” adding that the event is to bring to the fore progess recorded so far and the real essence of establishing the University.
Speaking further on some latest developments in NOUN which currently boasts of about 141,000 active students population, Professor Peters said the University recently secured accreditation of 30 academic programmes by the National Universities Commission (NUC), adding that out of the number, 28 got full accreditation while two achieved interim status.
On the moves to ensure eligible NOUN graduates participate in the National Youth Service Corps scheme as corps member, the Professor of Chemistry said the University would soon introduce a new proposal to the new Director General of NYSC that will likely end the exclusion of NOUN’s graduates from the one year national service.
