The National Universities Commission (NUC) recently announced Nigeria will not be accepting online degrees, “yet”. Unfortunately there wasn’t much reason given as to why they took the stance and nothing was mentioned of what they are doing to start ensuring Nigeria accepts it. Highly reputable schools around the world like University of Manchester, University of Florida, University of Liverpool, University of Birmingham and many others are offering quality online education that leads to students obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees. It will be absurd to regard many online degree holders who possess qualifications from reputable universities around the world and better than what someone will get by attending the many poorly performing traditional universities in Nigeria.
More absurd will it be to disregard the effort of Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships and that of many of its beneficiaries, many of whom are Nigerians. The scholarships are tenable only for online degrees. I am currently enrolled as for a Bachelors of Arts in Islamic Studies with Islamic Online University (IOU) in my second semester year 1. Prior to that, I have taken more than 15 online courses offered by top universities in Europe and America. These experiences have elaborately exposed to me to the many sides of online learning, as I have with the traditional learning I went through during my 5 year degree Ahmadu Bello University. Thus leading me to a reasonable conclusion that the educational value one receives from the two types of learning is more or less the same.
Online degrees offer much flexibility, offering learners great opportunities to perform other activities. It allows students to continue working while undertaking the degree at their own pace. I met some couple of students in Ahmadu Bello University who wish for longer holidays in order they can work for longer times to earn more money to cover for school in the upcoming semester. Some report late when the semester starts because they haven’t made enough to keep them till the end of the semester. How many people are out there in this quagmire too? These problems added together could be alleviated if online degrees are encouraged by the commission.
The painful truth that our universities are ranked a shameful far distant position in the World Universities Ranking says a lot about the mechanisms maintaining the traditional educational system. Change is normally slow in the academia, but the lack of hope given to online students by the NUC is not reassuring and is in every way demotivating. My simple questions to the commission are why are online degrees not accepted? What are they doing to make sure it is accepted? If the National Open University of Nigeria (the university has already graduated hundreds of people with these “online” degrees, purportedly accredited by the NUC) degrees are accepted, why aren’t other online degrees accepted?
To think that the traditional education system is doing better than the online experience provided by some universities is a fallible pompous gesture. I believe there is a general consensus amongst many that our universities have failed and need repositioning. There is no denying that they produce many half-baked graduates.
Many institutions offering online degrees have disseminate quality education to its students. Online degree holders should be treated with same accord traditional degree holders get.
Sadiq Abubakar Gulma wrote in from Birnin Kebbi.
Sagulma101@gmail.com

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