NEW PARADIGM IN ACCESS TO EDUCATION: THE UNIVERSITY OF

IBADAN DISTANCE LEARNING CENTRE’S EXPERIENCE

Rashid Aderinoye
Department of Adult Education
University of Ibadan
Ibadan
Nigeria
[email protected]

Tel 234-803-349-20011

Abstract
The University of Ibadan established in 1948 to promote higher education
has always been conscious of ensuring that its gate remained open to
many prospective learners rather than few. This perhaps informed its
decision in 1988 to establish a unit that will further provide access to
those who for reasons of geographical location, occupation and time
constraint among others could not afford to attend the conventional
system. Since the establishment of the Distance Learning Centre (DLC),
student population has been very low until recently when there was a
noticeable increase in the enrolment. The increase in enrolment became
obvious during the last two students matriculation when it jumped from
hundreds to thousands of students. Reasons for this have not been
empirically established. The purpose of this paper was to find out among
others, factors responsible for the sudden upsurge in student enrolment,
the reaction of the entire university community, the fears and expectations
of the students and mechanisms put in place by the university to cope with
the large enrolment without jeopardizing quality and interest of the
conventional programmes vis-à-vis the distance learning mode. The paper
further investigates the role of ICT embraced by the Centre as against the
heavy reliance on professional teachers in the line post. The instruments
used to obtain data for this study were: interview schedule, management
information provider and student response questionnaires, and the review
of essential literature and related documents. The paper was concluded
with recommendations that promote inclusive learning rather than
exclusive learning without necessarily sacrificing the quality of the
various programmes of the Centre.

Key word: Access, Factors, Student, Conventional, Dual Mode, Quality

The Emergence of Open Distance Learning in Nigeria

An intensive survey of literature on Nigeria educational history revealed how Nigerians
benefited from the British Educational System. Omolewa (1976) reported how a handful
of Nigerians, as far back as 1887, enrolled for the first time in the University of London

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Matriculation Examination as external students studying through correspondence without
enjoying any established formal ties with the educational institution. Similarly, Omolewa
(1982) noted that, in 1925, several Nigerians, among them Eyo-Ita and H. O. Davies,
passed the London Matriculation Examination. Later, both E. O. Ajayi and Alvan Ikoku
obtained the University of London degrees in philosophy in 1927 and 1929 respectively;
while J. S. Ogunlesi obtained a degree in Philosophy in 1933. The access to such
educational opportunities, at a distance, contributed immensely to these individuals
productivity which resulted in the innovations they subsequently demonstrated in their
teaching methodology at the St. Andrew’s Teachers College, Oyo (Aderinoye, 1995).
Besides these individuals, a significant number of Nigeria’s early educated elites were
products of the British correspondence/distance education system. In spite of the
establishment of a University College in Ibadan in 1948, many of its academic staff still
passed through the higher degree programmes of the University of London as distance
learners. This enabled them to combine work with study. Through this process they
acquired the advanced skills and knowledge needed for teaching and research at a time
when the College was introducing its own higher degree programmes.

With the emergence of many conventional higher institutions in Nigeria, most of which
were once based on purely correspondence modalities, distance education still constitutes
an integral part of these institution’s educational offerings (Aderinoye, 1992). Institutions
in Nigeria that offer educational programme through the distance education mode
include:
• Ahmadu Bello University offers a special training programme called: ‘‘The
Correspondence Teachers’ In-service Programmes (TISEP) which was
established in 1976 to prepare middle level teachers for Nigeria’s primary
schools.
• The Correspondence and Open Studies Unit (COSU), now called Distance
Learning Institute, was established in 1974 by the University of Lagos to produce
university graduates in disciplines necessary to meet national labour needs (e.g.
Accountancy, teachers, nurses, etc).
• The first independent institution dedicated solely to distance education, the
National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), was officially established in 1976 to upgrade
unqualified teachers in the nation’s primary shools and to accelerate the
preparation of qualified teachers needed for the implementation of the Universal
Primary Education programme introduced in 1976 and the Universal Basic
Education programme introduced in 1999.
• To offer similar programmes, the University of Abuja established its Centre for
Distance Learning and Continuing Education in 1992.
• The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) suspended in 1984 was re-
opened in 2001.
• The Distance Learning Centre of the University of Ibadan, which is the focus of
this presentation, was equally established in 1988.

Open Distance in Perspective

Let me at this juncture, refresh our memory of what Open Distance Learning is and the
achievement it had recorded in some other countries. It is a well known fact that, in spite

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 of the marriage between ‘distance education’ and ‘open learning’ which started at the
ICDE Conference in 1995 at Birmingham and which resulted into the popular name we
now use-open and distance learning, it has continued to defy a universally acceptable
definition as it is known by variety of names such as Keegan (1986) states the
characteristics of distance education as; quasi permanent separation of teacher and
learner throughout the length of learning process, two way communication, quasi –
permanent absence of a learning group and the presence of more industrialized features
than in conventional education. Khan (2006) states that Open Distance Learning (ODL)
system is often cited as an example of an innovative ‘business unusual’ approaches in
learning and educational services. It employs multimedia approach of delivering
educational services. Perraton (2001) had earlier taken a broader look at ODL and stated
that distance education has been defined as an educational process in which a significant
proportion of the teaching is conducted by someone removed in space and/or time from
the learner. Open learning, in turn, is an organised educational activity, based on the use
of teaching materials, in which constraints on study are minimized in terms of either
access of time, place, pace, and method of study, or any combination of these. The term
open and distance learning is used as an umbrella term to cover educational approaches
of this kind that reach teachers in their schools, provide learning resources for them, or
enable them to qualify without attending college in person, or opening of new
opportunity for them to have up-to-date knowledge no matter where or when they want to
study.

The flexibility inherent in open and distance learning, and the fact that it can be combined
with a full or near full-time job, makes it particularly appropriate for the often widely-
distributed work force of teachers and school managers. Some open and distance learning
programmes lead to a qualification others do not. Some are addressed to individuals and
T others to groups. Some are tightly organised and others are essentially organised as a way
of making learning resources available to teachers.
a The major concern of ODL has been explained by many scholars but I will restrict myself
to a few of these concerns. Khan (2006) states that ODL is popular for ensuring access
equity and quality education in a cost-effective manner. Similar, Dikshit (2006), while
providing the background information on Indira Ghandhi National Open University
(IGNOU), state that the most innovative and flexible systems capable of providing
quality education to a large target group of learners in reasonable neighoubourhood of
their dwellings and to suit their requirements and expectations is Open Distance
Learning. On ability to provide access to those denied by the conventional institutions,
Louw and Engelbrecht (2006) state that University of South Africa serves over 200,000
students including 14,000 from Africa and other countries. It delivers 5,000 different
courses through 70 teaching departments while learners can take examinations at
approximately 600 centres worldwide. And for India, Dikshit (2006) states that open
universities in our community have registered a phenomenal increase in enrolment with
the current average growth rate being around 24% per year. He concluded that IGNOU is
currently providing education to nearly 1.3 million students. The 1995 Institutional
Statistics quoted by Egbokhare (2007), revealed the population of large Open Distance
Learning at take off

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Table 1: Large Distance Learning System

Serial No Country Name of Institution Enrolment Foundation

1 China CCTVU Network 852,000 1997
2 Turkey Anadolu University 600,000 1982
3 France CNED 350,000 1939
4 Indonesia University of 353,000 1984
Terbuka
5 Thailand Sukothai 350,000 1978
Thamatirat OU
6 India Indra Ghandhi 242,000 1985
Open
University(IGNOU)
7 Korea National Open 200,000 1972
University
8 United OpenUniversity 200,000 1969
Kingdom
9 Spain UNED 140,000 1972
10 South Africa UNISA 130,000 1949
11 Nigeria University of 7,000 1986
Ibadan
Source: Institutional Statistics 1995

The question now is to what extent as the Distance Learning Centre of University of
Ibadan been able to justify its existence as an open distance learning institution? How has
it been able to absorb those denied admission by the conventional universities in Nigeria?
To what extent has it been able to have as many courses as expected of an open distance
learning institution? How has it been able to increase its initial few courses to many and
what is the current status of the Centre?

In an attempt to provide answers to these questions, a study using in-depth interview

analysis, was conducted and it was discovered that the Centre has a new image. Before I
discuss this new image of the Centre, let me quickly provide background information of
DLC, University in Ibadan.

The first University in Nigeria – the University of Ibadan – was established in 1948 and it
started as a College of the University of London to provide opportunity for Nigerians to
have access to university education. In doing this, the Extra Mural Studies Unit which
provided opportunity for students qualifications to gain admission into the university was
established a year later, 1949. This unit, which has since transformed into the Department
of Adult Education, justified its relevance when in 1986, for the third time, presented a
proposal for the establishment of an External Studies Programme (ESP) to the Senate of
the University.

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The Senate, realising the importance of the proposal and the relief it will bring to many
Nigerians in the face of the unsatisfied demands higher education approved the proposal.
The university authority sought for the approval of the External Studies Programme
(ESP) from the National Universities Commission (NUC) on September 25, 1986 and
was subsequently approved on the condition that the progamme would be self-financing
(Bajah, Odejide, Akin- Ova, Ayoade, Hussain, 1995).

The Centre finally took off during the 1988/1989 session with academic programmes in
three departments: Department of Adult Education, Department of Guidance and
Counselling and Department of Teacher Education with a total student population of
1,122 (Aderinoye, 1995, Eghokhare, 2006). The cummulative students intake of the
Centre between 1988 and 2003 was 6306.

The Beginning of the New Paradigm

Summarising their findings on a study of the Centre (Ayodele, Araromi, Emeke and
Adegbile (2006) reported, among others, that:
whereas distance learning programme in several other countries are
known for the large number of students, our own experiment with distance
learning still has very few students. During the first fifteen year of its
existence, the University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre has fewer
than 7,000 students. As Against this situation, the Open University in
Britain registered 24,000 students in its first year and graduated more
than 100,000 students during its second decade.

The study also revealed that students had a problem in relating with their course tutors. A
major conclusion of the study was that courses available were too few and too narrow to
justify the name Distance Learning Programme.

In spite of all these, the study reported a pleasant aspect of the programme thus:
from the results thus far, it is particularly pleasing that most students
emerged with brilliant degree results. The ratio of students in the various
class of degrees (first class, second class upper, second class lower, third
class and pass) are quite comparable to those obtained in the regular
degree programmes. Besides, the fact that some of the graduates have
registered for, and obtained higher degree is particularly encouraging.

These findings served as an opener and impetus to the Director of the Centre – Professor
Francis Egbokhare – who came-up with proposals that have changed the fortune of the
Centre. He anchored his proposals on the vision of the university: ‘‘to expand the
frontiers of knowledge and transform society through innovation. He there after
submitted that the DLC must be restructured along this vision. He identified the
challenges facing the DLC as follows:

i) Unpopular programmes,
ii) Stiff competition from other institutions,
iii) Unrealistic regulatory environment,

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iv) Poor access due to face-to-face mode of delivery among others. (Egbokhare, 2006).

To reverse the above staged challenges, he sets in motion a plan of action to achieve the
following:
• Increase student enrolment to at least, 30,000 within the next three years.
• Become the primary source of intellectual resources in the West Africa sub-region.
• Increase the number of programmes available in the centre.

The determination to increase enrolment and courses must have been informed by the
continuous downtrend in the number of students admitted by the conventional
universities. The records of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) (the body
responsible for admitting students into Nigerian Universities) revealed a high degree of
unsatisfied admission demand into Nigerian University as displayed by the table below:

Table 2: Degree of Unsatisfied Admission Demand into Nigerian University

Year Application Admission Admission as % of Application

1999 418,292 64,368 15.35
2000 416,318 45,766 11
2001 749,419 90,769 12.12
2002 994,380 51,845 5.22
2003 1,046,950 105,157 10.05
2004 841,878 122,492 14.55
2005 916,371 65,609 7.1

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 JAMB Students Admission

1,050,000
1,000,000
950,000
900,000
850,000
800,000
750,000
700,000
650,000
600,000
550,000
500,000 Application
450,000
400,000 Admission
350,000
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

A worst scenario was the transition from senior secondary school to university as
displayed by the table below:

Table 3: Transition from Senior Secondary School to University

Year 2000/2001 2001/2002 2002/2003 2003/4
Total No of SSS 571,089 632,248 652,987 818,572
No Transited to University 113,756 142,614 153,226 151,526
No in transit 457,333 479,634 499,761 667,047
FME Statistics of Education in Nigeria (1999 – 2005).

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 Transition from Senior Secondary to University

850,000
800,000
750,000
700,000
650,000
600,000
550,000
500,000
450,000 Total number of SSS
400,000
350,000
Number Transited to
300,000
University
250,000
200,000 Number in Transit
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
2000/2001

2001/2002

2002/2003

2003/2004

From the two tables presented above, we can imagine the high wastage ratio in the
number of prospective candidates who would have been left behind in terms of addition
into the conventional universities if alternative access was not created which is Open-
Distance Learning.

The questions now are: how has the DLC helped in absorbing a percentage of these
students irrespective of the fraction? How has the DLC been repositioned to
accommodate some of these students? What mechanisms are put in place to actualise the
30,000 enrolment figure within the three years as specified in the action plan?.

Faced with these challenges, the Board of the DLC mandated the Director to implement
the following:
1) Chart a new course for the DLC by reviewing courses with a view to introducing
not only new but attractive courses to prospective students,
2) Re-orientate stakeholders on the roles of the DLC in the educational development
of the country,
3) Make the admission requirements more open,
4) Integrate learner support services, into a more purposive practical activity of the
Centre, and
5) Establish resource centre where learners will have access to computer and the
internet.

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In response to the Board’s mandate, the Director mobilised all the major stakeholders in
the university community through a re-orientation seminar where all were further
enlightened on the roles, relevance, and essence of the DLC.

At the end of the seminar, a robust work plan for the centre was developed. This
tremendously assisted the Director in packaging and development of new courses which
have radically increased the number of courses and the enrolments figure. The first step
taken by the director was the presentation of the newly developed courses to the senate of
the university and were eventually approved. The senate’s approval of the courses was
based on the fact that the university staff shown commitment to fully participate in the
Centre’s activities and the Centres have readiness to open its gate to many rather than few
prospective students.

The diploma courses approved, in addition to the existing ones, were:

They are;
1) Diploma in Industrial Relations and Trade Unionism
2) Diploma in Adult and Community Development
3) Diploma in Human Kinetics and Health Education
4) Diploma in Librarianship
5) Professional Diploma in Educational Management
6) Diploma in Teacher Education
7) Diploma in Theatre Arts (on state, radio, film, TV, video)
8) Diploma in Statistics
9) Diploma in Social Work
10) Diploma in HIV/AIDS/STIs Education
11) Diploma in School Media Programme
12) Diploma in History and Diplomatic Studies
13) Diploma in Applied Psychology

The new degree courses approved in the faculties of Arts and Social sciences were

B.A. Communication and Language Arts

B.Sc Psychology
B.Sc Economics

This is in addition to the already existing courses in the Faculty of Education

1. Library, Archival and Information Studies
2. Adult Education
3. Educational Management
4. Guidance and Counselling
5. Human Kinetics and Health Education
6. Special Education
7. Teacher Education
8. Pre-Primary and Primary Education

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The University Senate has since approved many new courses for the DLC as listed below
in different departments and faculties.

Faculty of Arts
1. B. A. Communication and English
2. B. A. Communication and French
3. B. A. French
4. B. A. French and Linguistics
5. B. A. English and French
6. B. A. English
7. B. A. French and English
8. B. A. French and Communication Arts
9. B. A. French and Yoruba
10. B. A. French and Linguistics
11. B. A. Linguistics
12. B. A. Linguistics and Communication Arts
13. B. A. Linguistics and English Language
14. B.A. Linguistics and Yoruba

Faculty of Agriculture:
• Agriculture
• Forest Resource Management
• Wildlife Management
• Fisheries Management

Faculty of Social Sciences (4 years Degree)

1. B.Sc Economics
2. B.Sc Political Science

Faculty of Science (4 years Degree)

• B.Sc Statistics

Faculty of Education (5 years Degree)

• Guidance and Counselling
• Teacher Education

The approval of these courses has tremendously changed the fortune of the Centre
because the enrolment figure compared with the past, has astronomically increased. In
fact, a comparison in the admission rate between the convention and DLC in the
following faculty showed a great difference:

Table 4: Admission Rate between the Convention and DLC

DLC Conventional
Faculty 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007
Education 345 398 627 474 385 451
Agric 16 15 18 279 277 266

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Social Sci. - - 940 463 309 324
Arts - - 515 440 352 350
Source: Admission offices of DLC and the Conventional University of Ibadan (2007)

ADM ISSION TO REGULAR AND DLC 2004 TO 2007

950
900
850
800 Education
750
700 Agriculture
650
600 Social Scie nce s
550
500 Arts
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2004/2005

2005/2006

2006/2007

2004/2005

2005/2006

2006/2007

DLC CONVENTIONAL

From the above table, it can be observed that the total DLC students’ enrolment in the
faculty of education for 2005/2006 was 627 while that of the Conventional was 451. The
B.Sc Psychology in the programme Faculty of Social Sciences has shown that the DLC
has actually widened access to university education. The DLC admission for 2006/2007
session for the programme was 940 while that of the Conventional regular admission was
342. Similarly, in the Faculty of Arts, DLC admission for 2006/2007 session was 515
while that of the regular was 350.

Other Mechanisms to Facilitate and Sustain Mass Enrolment of Prospective

Students

In meeting the challenges that are emerging as a result of the increase in enrolment figure
the DLC is focusing on the following:

• Developing the capacity of all its administrative staff through on-the-job training and
leave of absence to undertake courses in advanced Open Learning Institutions in other
part of the world as well as the development of new staff handbook where other
incentives are clearly spelt-out.
• Proposal for holders of ordinary and higher national diploma who were all along
denied admission into DLC programmes is before the senate of the university for
approval.
• Recruitment of tutorial assistants to assist in tutorial and students assignments.

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• Appointment of student counsellors to help in counselling students before and after
admission.
• Inauguration of new committees such as student support, tutorial, administration,
technology, and learning resources development to facilitate smooth running of the
programmes.

Establishment of a resource centre with more than 40 computers connected to the internet
for an effective integration of on-line services for all the students. This will provide
opportunity for students and tutors to have direct access to the internet thereby enhancing
tutor to student and student to student on line communication.

It has also become part of the Centre’s policy to have the telephone numbers of both
students and course tutors so that students can have direct access to course tutors on
issues relating to assignments and fixing of time for occasional face-to-face. This will
assist students to call their course tutor(s) or tutorial assistant(s) when it is desirable to do
so.

The Centre has also imbibed the culture of occasional re-training of its entire
participating academic staff with a view of updating their knowledge and keeping them
abreast of latest developments about the Centre in particular and about Open-Distance
Learning in general.

In conclusion, it is expected that Professor Egbokhare dream of a 30,000 enrolment

figure, within the next three years, becomes a reality soonest.

Please join me to congratulate the Director that has revolutionised the DLC within the
first term of his administration. Here is Professor Francis Egbokhare

References
Ayodele, S. O.; Araromi, M. A.; Emeke, E. A. AND Adegbile, J. A. (2006). An
Evaluation of the Distance Learning Programme of the University Ibadan, Ibadan,
DLC.
Bajah, S. T.; Odejide, A.; Aken’ova, M. E.; Ayoade, J. O. and Hussain, L. A. (1995).
Report of Ad-Hoc Committee on the External Degree Programme, U. I.

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Dikshit, H. P.(2006). Re-engineering Social Transformation through ICT – Enabled
Education/GNOU Perspective in Suresh Garg, Sautosh Pauda, C.R.K Murthy Sanjaya
Mishra (Eds.) Opena nd Sistance Education in Global Environment Opportunities for
Collaboration New Delhi IGNOU.
Egbokhare, F. O. (2006). Brainstorming Document for the Distance Learning Programme
Ibadan DLC.
Egbokhare F.O (2007) The Concept of Distance Learning and the Challenges for
University of Ibadan, Paper presented at the DLC Writers workshop
FME (2007). Statistics of Education in Nigeria: 1999 – 2005, Abuja FME.
Khan, Abdul Waheed (2006). Distance Education for Development in Suresh Garg,
Sautosh Pauda, C.R.K Murthy Sanjaya Mishra (Eds.) Opena nd Sistance Education in
Global Environment Opportunities for Collaboration New Delhi IGNOU.
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Lauw, A. and Engelbrechi, E. (2006). Integrating Information and Communication
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Garg, Sautosh Pauda, C.R.K Murthy Sanjaya Mishra (Eds.) Opena nd Sistance
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