An expose on the gains and challenges of the open university system on adult learners in Nigeria: writers’ panacea

Abstract

The need to make education affordable and accessible to the applicants who could not be admitted by the conventional institutions in the country, particularly the working class necessitated the re-establishment of the National Open University of Nigeria. This gesture has been beneficial to many people including those who left school prematurely (dropped out or out of school), it gives them the opportunity to mainstream back and achieved their aims in life, get certificated and restore their self esteem. It is against this background that this paper has sought to trace the advent of the Open University into Nigeria and gives an expose of the various advantages and challenges facing the Open University System in Nigeria. In doing this, a questionnaire named (ACOUSN) will be developed to ascertain the existence of the phenomenon in question. Two centres of the institution and two conventional institutions will be chosen from the western region of the country. One hundred students will be selected from each of the centres to make a total of four hundred. Three research questions and three hypotheses will be formulated; t-test will be used to test the hypotheses. Possible solution will be proffered and recommendations will be made at the end of the study.

Keywords: Open University, National Open University of Nigeria, Professional Agencies, Tertiary Education, Federal Government, Infrastructure, Study Centre, Learner, Facilitation.