DELSU VC Lauds NUC For High Standard In Varsities

By Ben Nwanne

The Vice-Chancellor of Delta State University, Abraka (DELSU), Professor Andy Egwunyenga has again commended the National Universities Commission (NUC) for being a worthy partner in the academia and for its role in ensuring high standards in the Nigerian University system.

He was speaking yesterday at the Dean of Education Conference Hall where he received a three-man NUC team who were on the third phase of the e-learning readiness assessment visit to Nigerian Universities.

The Professor of Parasitology and Public Health, while acknowledging the importance of e-learning, explained that the University had been proactive and upfront in harnessing the e-learning resources for the overall development of the University.

He recalled that during the Covid-19 pandemic, DELSU was able to mitigate the negative effects with the DELSU Learning Management System (DLMS) through which the University was able to teach courses on-line, a situation that ensured smooth and seamless academic calendar in the University.

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He further threw some light on the efforts of the University in other areas of harnessing e-learning resources, adding that all the General Studies (GST) courses were totally online.

Fully appreciative of the fact that effective learning was unattainable without effective administration, he noted that many management functions in the University such as school fees, health care services, etc, had been digitalized, while others, including the Senate, were in the process of doing so.

“We have upgraded our transcript management, which is now electronically processed”, he told the visitors.

He recalled that only recently, the Commission visited the University to validate its distance learning status, starting with the Nursing programme which is projected to reach a huge number of students, which the face-to-face mode of teaching could not possibly achieve.

The Vice-Chancellor who is giving DELSU an enlightened and committed leadership in the past 51 months, remarked that open and distance learning could not be strong without the e-learning component.

The leader of the NUC team, Mr. Benjamin Agaba who is a top administrator in the Commission’s Open and Distance Learning section, explained that their visit was advisory, aimed at finding ways and means of integrating e-learning into the teaching mode.

He regretted that Africa was lagging behind in e-learning and called for improvement in the area.

“We are here to see how we can bring the e-leaning into the arrangement”, he told his audience comprising the University Management, Deans, Directors and other senior academic staff.

“We are not here to witch hunt. We are here to rub minds”.

The soft-spoken administrator noted that many Universities in Nigeria were caught napping during the Covid-19 pandemic and so could not rise to the occasion because of poor e-learning infrastructure.

In an earlier letter informing the University of its choice for the 3rd phase of the programme, the NUC explained that “the assessment visit was in line with the Commission’s mandate of conducting investigations relating to higher education as the Commission may consider necessary in the national interest and of initiating and promoting proficiency in the use of ICT for service delivery in the Nigerian University System”.

The business-like meeting had in attendance the leader of the NUC team and his colleagues, Mr. Ehibor Moses and Saka Suleiman Jimoh, Secretary of the team, while the full complement of management staff including the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor (Mrs) Rosemary Okoh; the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Ochuko Anomohanran, who is billed to present his inaugural lecture on the very last day of this month; the Provost of Oleh Campus, Professor Elo Ibagere; the Registrar, Mrs. Rufina Ufiofio, represented by a Senior Deputy Registrar, Mrs. Mercy Irivwieri; the Bursar, Mrs. Otimeyin Ekakitie-Omojuwa and the University Librarian, Dr. (Mrs) Josephine Onawhakpor.