Inaugural lecture to come up on the 20th of January while Actual Convocation on the 21st of January 2017. The school is looking forward to get an Economist well grounded in the field to lecture on that day.
NYSC. He made clarifications that NYSC accept students that are in Full time education, Students who graduated from university where they practice full time education. The Concept of Full time education is a face to face interactive section between students and teachers at a given time and location. Anything outside this model is regarded as Part time education of which NYSC does not capture part time students. He explained why NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY has not been involve in the scheme can be traced to the Nature and history of the school system that was meant for Adult and dominated by Civil servants which automatically led to exclusion from the NYSC scheme and not NYSC deliberately excluding Noun students... But emphasize things have changed; today many young ones are now students of NOUN.
As regards measures or steps NOUN management is taking to solve the issue, He said the school management has met with NYSC and that the perception is that NOUN is a part time university and not Full time university of which was clarified that NOUN is operating Open Distance Learning(ODL). Fortunately for the school, National Universty Commission (NUC) is stepping in and the hope is that they reach a resolution. He stated those who are old enough will be given the exclusion certificate while the younger ones will be given the opportunity to participate in NYSC scheme though he pointed out it might not be possible for all students to go for NYSC at the same time/year due to huge population of students but the school will stagger them. (Having different batches)
ABOUT EXAM GRADING..
He disclose that there is a standard grading being used which is same thing with conventional school...He advised students should visit their study centre and get further explanation as par the exam grading.. Director for Exams will be able to answer more explicitly.
SCHOOL PORTAL
Before no, the School portal/TMA/exam portal has always being outsourced I.e managed by external company but the school has withdrawn that and every Online platform (school Portal, TMA, NOUNILEARN and other IT related activities) will now be created and managed by the school via a body called MIS(Management Information System). He stated this will bring about the school serving students better which will solve the issue of missing and delayed result. He pleads with students to be patient with the school management as a new portal has being developed and will be launched as soon they things are "rock solid" with the portal.
The school hasn’t launched the portal because E-exams are ongoing and don’t want to cause distractions and still sorting out data on the previous portal with the former service provider so students won't have issues with e-wallet etc. He assured between December ending and January the new portal will be deployed.
A Video will be embedded on the site to teach and guide students on how to use or navigate the site.. He said itches here and there might come up as the portal undergoes a Pretest mode but in the long run things will get smooth. The school is working hard to ensure no students suffer with the portal..
AS REGARDS NOUN ANTHEM BEING TOO SOLEMN;
The school will maintain the anthem and come up with advocacy anthems (hi pop, R and B etc inclined). He discloses the school management is ensuring the school reposition itself within the larger frame of ODL learning.
NEW ILEARN PLATFORM:
The school will be coming up with an entirely new I-learn platform which will be called I-NOUN which will be launched soon.
He further discloses that a support site will be launched where feedbacks will be accommodated. "Rate your facilitator and study centre" Students will be able to make complains about services of their study centre and facilities directly to the VC’s inbox.. This will ensure the school serving students better.
Talking about over population of students at study centers.;
He said the school is trying to create more halls to accommodate students.
About Noun fm having a TV stations and being able to reach large population of students;
He said there are limitations in terms of its ownership and operations but the school is sorting a means to effectively reach out to the huge population of students in NOUN.
Question on Why Mass communication students keep getting new courses added after exam registration;?
He replied; "You don't want more courses?? Laughter in the studio. We want to give you the best! Mass communication is arguably the most dynamic course and it’s the only discipline that keeps changing..We are no more dealing with Vanguard, Guardian or Punch or something like that. We are now dealing with new forms of convergence; new forms of news gathering, dissemination so please bear with us we just simply want to prepare you for the future world because so that when you get to the future world you become well equipped"
He summarized;
The school is happy students are pointing out some of the problems and that they aware of the problems faced by students and they will come up with explanatory video that answers frequently asked questions and it will be posted on different social media.
He says the school welcomes criticism and look forward to have frequent interactive section with the students. "We like criticism, we like to be told what is wrong, because unless we are told what is wrong we won’t be able to put it right"
RETURATED;
"I personally welcome criticism about what we are doing wrong, so that we can make it better, we are not angels, we are human beings. Human beings are imperfect and we will do our best to be as perfect as possible within our limit of our humanity".
The above is an excerpt or summary from the interview with NOUN VC on NOUN105.9FM
Transcribed and summarized by IMPACT TRUST PRINTS
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