Public Policy and Enhancement of Access in Private Universities in Nigeria

The licensing of private universities in Nigeria in 1999 was a milestone in the development of higher education in Nigeria. Prior to that, public policy gave the federal and state governments the monopoly to establish and run higher education institutions. During this period also, enrollment into the existing public universities was very low accounting for not more than an average of 15% of the total number of those who applied for admission into the universities each academic session. Consequently, one of the major reasons for the liberalization of ownership of higher education institutions and the eventual licensing of private universities in 1999, was to expand access into the universities. However, evidence does not seem to suggest that this important policy goal has been achieved. For example, during the first decade (1999-2009), the enrollment data from 30 private universities which had enrolled students (by 2007), suggests that public policy failed to effectively use private universities to expand access as private universities contributed only 3.4% of total enrollment into the universities, and this rose to 5% in 2009 with 41 private universities. However, in the first half of the second decade (2010-2013) the enrollment contribution of 50 private universities increased reasonably as they accounted for 10.4% of total enrollment. But even with this increased contribution, existing public policy enablers have failed to serve as catalyst for rapid enhancement of access in private universities. Based on this therefore, new critical policy enablers for expanding access are identified and recommended. Key Words: Public policy, public policy enablers, higher education access, private universities in Nigeria

The Implementation of Distance Learning Programme at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN): A Case Study

With a student population of over 180,000 (as at 2013), the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is no doubt a leading higher education institution in Nigeria. NOUN’s student enrolment figure is by far higher than enrolment figures in well over 20 private universities put together in Nigeria. It is among the first four leading institutions that have significantly enhanced access into higher education institutions in Nigeria. The implementation of a distance learning programme in a territorially large country like Nigeria is a big challenge. NOUN has taken bold steps in the implementation of its distance learning programme since its establishment. For example, it has many study centres all over the country towards expanding access. However, the quality of learning and graduates produced by the distance learning institutions in Nigeria has remained a controversial issue among stakeholders in the education sector. The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which NOUN has effectively implemented its Distance learning programme. A descriptive survey design was employed to execute the study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 140 respondents out of a population of 2,500 students. Structured questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected. The findings among others revealed that instructional process used in NOUN was effective; the educational resources were not adequate and satisfactory and the quality of assessment and feedback mechanism used in NOUN was high. However, the various schools significantly differed with respect to the quality of assessment and feedback mechanism used in NOUN. It was therefore recommended among others, that NOUN should enhance its ICT capability in its instructional process and that quality and equity should be the guiding principles behind all learning assessment. Keywords: Open universities, Distance learning, educational programme implementation, Instructional process, Learning assessment,