National Open Varsity Matriculates 25,517 Students

Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Uduma Oji Uduma, has charged the 25,517 newly-matriculated students to strive for excellence and refuse mediocrity in their academic pursuits.

The vice-chancellor stated this yesterday during the 30th matriculation of the university, which took place virtually across its study centres nationwide.

This was contained in a press statement signed by Ibrahim Sheme, director of Media and Publicity NOUN.

At his first matriculation ceremony since his assumption of office, Uduma emphasised the importance of accessible education and urged the new students to take ownership of their learning.

He said, “The future is not something that will happen to you, it is something you must build.

“NOUN stands on a simple but radical philosophical foundation: that education is not a privilege reserved for the few, but a right that must be extended to all.

“Here, the boundaries that once defined who could learn and who could not are deliberately dismantled. Here, opportunity is not rationed, it is expanded,” he said.

The VC reiterated that the Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode of education is no longer merely comparable to the conventional system, but it has become the preferred mode of learning.

He said ODL “is not only equal and proven; it is now setting the direction for the future of education globally.”

The new students have been admitted into various undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes across various faculties, with 19,149 as undergraduate students, 2,194 in Postgraduate Diploma programmes, while 4,107 would be pursuing Master’s degrees.

Furthermore, 20 students have been admitted for MPhil programmes, and 47 as doctoral candidates.

Uduma pointed out that the faculty distribution demonstrates the breadth of academic engagement within the institution: Management Sciences leads with 7,519 students, followed by Social Sciences with 5,933, Education with 3,526, Computing with 3,710, Health Sciences with 3,046, Science with 759, Arts with 704, Agricultural Sciences with 302, and Law with 18.