Stakeholders Urge FG to Encourage Online Degree Programmes

Oluchi Chibuzor

Stakeholders in the Nigerian education sector have called on the federal government through the new Minister of Education, Dr. Morufu Alausa, to use his position to promote online degree programmes in the country.

They said catering to students who cannot go to the classroom because of their businesses, work, and other circumstances was necessary. 

Speaking at the 2024 convocation and induction programme of Ballsbridge University in Lagos, a member of the Board of Governing Council, Ballsbridge University, Prof. Abba Micheal, stated that the country must accept that online education has come to stay globally.

He explained that online programmes allow people to mingle with people from different walks of life at a wide range.

The Head of the Institute of Commercial Management United Kingdom (ICM-UK) Nigeria stressed that online learning would allow youths to gain necessary work experience instead of spending four to five years of schooling without the needed criteria for most employers.

He argued that with the current economic situation in the country, those from poor backgrounds can leverage online learning programmes to improve their educational status.

He pointed out that notable universities across the world have adopted online learning platforms, adding that Africans’ perceptions about the classroom remain a barrier.

He also stressed that if the continent refuses to adopt online programmes now, in the near future, classrooms will be obsolete.

Meanwhile, the event featured the conferment of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD/DBA ) Degrees on 17 students; EMBA, MSc/MBA, PGD degrees on eight students and BSc on five students across several academic disciplines.

Also, the honorary PhD was awarded to 15 people. Thirteen persons were also inducted as fellows of ICM-UK.

In his remarks, the Chancellor of Ballsbridge University, Prof. Charles Idahosa, expressed confidence in the transformative power of education.

In his induction lecture, Dr. Ezeogu Chukwuemeka, said, “The future of this continent is hinged upon getting a critical mass of its people to place a different kind of premium on knowledge. To treat knowledge not as a transactional tool but as a creative force. To treat it as the means through which they will impose order- their unique brand of it- on the chaos that has come to define the continent.”