One hundred an three students of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, have bagged First Class degrees in various courses of studies in the institution.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Abdallah Uba Adamu made the disclosure on Tuesday while briefing newsmen in Abuja on the forthcoming convocation of the institution.
Mr Uba-Adamu also stated that the university will confer degrees, diplomas and certificates to 20,799 students in various disciplines during the convocation.
According to him, 26 of the entire first-class graduating students are from the Faculty of Management.
Speaking on the activities lined up for the two-day 8th convocation ceremony which would begin on March 22, the VC disclosed that a former Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, will be the Keynote Speaker.
Mr Uba-Adamu noted that this year’s convocation is symbolic to the institution, especially as it coming up at a time when President Muhammadu Buhari just assented to the National Open University Amendment Act, to allow the institution to operate like all other universities in the country.
According to him, the signing of the bill has led to a significant increase in student intake of the institution, saying that as against last year’s 15,000 students, the school is graduating over 20,000 students this year.
“In addition to that, we have initiated some partnerships and collaborations with various open distance learning institutes in Africa and the world over, that will help us to achieve our dreams of providing a world-class open distance learning in Nigeria which will be a hub in the continent.
“We are, therefore, reaching out to both private, public organisations to support us so we can build and open up the institution for students from various African countries to be able to subscribe for NOUN courses from any part of the continent,” he stated.
