In other to meet the demands of quality education in the country, the National University Commission (NUC) has concluded arrangements to re-brand the distance learning programmes in the country.

Receiving the management team of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie hinted on the need for distance learning programmes in Nigeria.

Okojie said the potentials of distance learning have not been fully tapped, noting that a degree obtained from the NOUN is as good as any other degree from conventional universities.

He pointed out inadequate access as one of the major problems confronting NOUN.

“The National Open University presents a new dimension to university education in this country. There is this constraint of time and space which means that the potentials are unlimited. But here we are, not fully taping these potentials,” Okojie said.

“We have limited our schools with our own potentials and the philosophy of the problems that are involved has been difficult to solve.”

In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of NOUN, Prof. Vincent Tenebe, said the university has unlimited space and could admit as much as half the population of Nigeria.

NOUN was established in 2002 to offer Nigerians a chance to have equitable access to cost effective and flexible mode of learning through open and distance learning techniques.

In line with this provision, the new management of NOUN has indicated interest to work with NUC to reposition the programmes of the University for Effective Performance.

Tenebe, who expressed the readiness of the institution to be guided by the provisions of NUC, said the university will work NUC to ensure standards and meet the demand of higher education in the country.

“This is to ensure that we will do and even prove that we can do better than the conventional universities,” he added.

NOUN currently has about 120,000 students