The management of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, says that its student population will increase from 6,000 to 50,000 in the next 10 years.
Its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, stated this while inaugurating the Distance Learning Centre of the university. The school also inaugurated seven eLearning diploma programmes on the occasion.
Garba, who hailed the e-learning initiative, said it was an elixir for resolving the limited admission problems in the nation’s tertiary institutions.
No fewer than 1.5 million candidates annually sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination for about 500,000 admission slots.
Garba said, “We have plans to raise the number of students being admitted into the institution from 6,000 to 50,000 over the next 10 years. Included in this plan is the introduction of our distance learning center and today we are glad that it has become a reality. The only solution to the limited admission spaces in our tertiary institutions is through embarking on distance learning education.”
The university, the VC added, would offer lectures for the programme electronically through a tablet device.
The ABU Distance Learning Centre Director, Prof. Hassan Zoaka, noted that the initiative would enable more students to have access to the university’s quality education.
He added, “The centre seeks to provide a practical solution to the problem of accessing quality tertiary education in the country. Now students anywhere in the world can have access to ABU’s quality education without restrictions.
“Students in the eLearning programme will get the same certificate as on-campus students and online or distance learning will not be stated on their certificates. ABU’s diploma is admissible for all relevant degree programmes (on campus or by distance learning) in ABU and other institutions.”
Courses available through the programme are diploma in Mass Communication, Social Work and Development Studies as well as Local Government Studies.
Others are diploma in Public Administration, Peace and Security Studies, Public Administration and Local Government.
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