The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has urged Vice Chancellors of Nigerian universities to adopt the hybrid learning technology to reduce the 75 per cent admission shortfall into Universities in the country.
The minister made the call during a meeting with vice chancellors of Nigerian universities in Abuja on Friday.
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He said the call became necessary as every year, around 2 million people apply to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for admission to universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education, but only about 330,000 were admitted, resulting in an admission rate of 22-25 per cent.
“This leaves a significant number of applicants, around 75 per cent without access to higher education.
“So what happens to those 75 per cent year over year? The government has built universities across the country. We have invested a lot of money in building infrastructure which is meant to be for students.
“So we shouldn’t be limiting the number of people we admit to our universities based on available accommodation,which could be negotiated with the private sector in a distance not too far from the school,” he said.
Alausa directed all Universities to implement the use of the Anthology Blackboard by the end of 2025, as part of the hybrid learning process to address the admissions challenges.
He warned that, any institutions that failed to migrate would not access their ICT intervention funds from the Tertiary Education Trust fund TETFUND.
“It’s not acceptable at this age to remain limited. Explore opportunities of modern technology. You have to adopt Hybrid Learning classes, Use you ICT intervention funds to link to ICT dash boards.
“This is what you should be doing. Now, I asked TETFund to present to you yesterday. Every one of you must start using Anthology Blackboard before the end of this year.
“That is one of the best technologies that we have now. That will help you with your hybrid classes. I know there might be some training involved.
“We will talk to TETFund to provide how you adopt it. You have to start adopting hybrid classes. More so with the folks from the North. We talk about security. Students can’t come to school, you should be the one to use this solution to keep your students on.
“This is not a talk show. You would have to implement this,” he said
He tasked the universities to prioritise specialised education programmes to bridge the growing skills gap in the workforce, stressing that a UNESCO data shows that there is a 2 million Job vacancies in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, software development, Cyber Security, IT automation among others which could be utilised by teaching the right courses in Nigeria’s Tertiary Institutions.
He emphasised on the need for the Universities to maintain accurate data on activities on their campus, as that will make it easier to identify areas of intervention.
The Executive Secretary, National University Of commission, Prof. Abdulahi Ribadu encouraged tertiary institutions to maintain accurate data which enhance planing.
“Most times when we send circular out requesting for data, Universities delay responses, which results to distortion in some available information.
“In this regard If you refuse to supply necessary data and you university is eventually short changed you can not complain ,” he said.
The NUC boss said there was the need to expand capacities on campuses in different ways, including infrastructure facilities and human resources to increase admissions as well as ensure that professional and specialised courses have enough facilities for practicals on campus.
Alai, JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede said the board is limited on increasing the number of students’ admissions into Tertiary Institutions, as schools request based on the facilities they have.
Oloyede explained that there was the need to increase the numbers but must be based on the facilities available as well as meeting the minimum required UMTE points, 5 credits and subject combination to read a course.
He equally supported the need to strengthen ability to capture data on courses, numbers of students on campus, whether part time or full time to know their exact numbers and plan accordingly.
On the specialised courses, he said the society needs to be sensitised for institutions and parents to refocus learning processes of their children, instead of allowing them to take to courses that might not be relevant after graduation.
Responding, Chairman, Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities, Prof. Tanko Ishaya who spoke on behalf of others, pledged the support of the VCs and their universities to support the new initiatives, especially in the areas of skills acquisition.
Hybrid learning is an educational model where some students attend class in-person, while others join the class virtually from home.
Educators teach remote and in-person students at the same time using tools like video conferencing hardware and software.
