Education

NOUN graduates 22,175 students as 22 bag first class

At least 22,175 students of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) will be awarded various degrees and diplomas at the 13th convocation ceremony of the university.

The Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Professor Olufemi Peters, made this known on Monday in Abuja at the pre-convocation news conference held at the NOUN Headquarters in Abuja. The convocation ceremony is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 13, 2024.

Peters revealed that 22 students out of the total number of undergraduates bagged first-class degrees.

He also disclosed that two eminent Nigerians, Dr. Innocent Chukuwuma, a prominent Nigerian entrepreneur and founder of Innonso Motors, and activist Hajiya Hafsat Abdulwaheed, who is the first female novelist in northern Nigeria, would be conferred with an honorary doctorate degree (Honoris Causa).

While giving a further breakdown of the figure of graduating students, Olufemi Peters said the total number of undergraduates is 15,768 while postgraduates are 6,407.

The Vice Chancellor said, “This year, the total number of graduates that we have is 22,175 students across our various campuses.

“Of this number, 15,768 are for undergraduate degrees, while 6,407 are for postgraduate degrees. The analysis of the undergraduate will be presented fully in my report when I address the convocation, but just to paraphrase, all the faculties have representation of undergraduates, with the faculty of social sciences having the largest number of graduands.

“Out of these undergraduates, we have 22 with first class, about 1,886 with second class upper, about 8,427 with second class lower, and about 3,782 with third class.

“For the postgraduates, we have postgraduate diplomas in various fields like Agriculture, Art, Education, management sciences and social sciences totalling 2,362 and for the masters, we have 4039 graduates who will be graduating with Master degrees.

“I’m happy to report that we have 6 PhDs graduates, which is an indication that the University is gradually moving towards establishing a more robust postgraduate school,” he said.

He announced that the University would on Thursday confer investiture on the new Chancellor of NOUN, His Royal Majesty Omon’Oba N’Edo Uku’Akpolokpolo Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin Kingdom, explaining that this would be done to enable him to perform the awards of degrees and diplomas on convocation day to students who have been found worthy in character and learning.

He thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for founding Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin, worthy of appointment as the Chancellor of the nation’s Open University.

Peters added that there would be a convocation lecture on Friday, to be delivered by the Vice-Chancellor of Open University of Tanzania, Professor Elifas Bisanda.

He said the University has witnessed unprecedented growth in the last year, having expanded from 17 study centres to 120 centres spread across the country, noting that
the institution has surmounted most of the challenges it faced in the past.

The Vice-Chancellor also said that NOUN was not threatened by the licencing of three private Open Universities in Nigeria by the Federal Government, saying the ultimate goal was to ensure that universities were brought to the doorstep of willing Nigerians.

On the issue of admission of NOUN law students into law school, he said the university was engaging the Council of Legal Education, disclosing that NOUN was set to commence the building of the Faculty of Law this year as part of the engagement.

He also disclosed that there has been fruitful engagement with the management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for the mobilisation of qualified students of NOUN, saying very soon there would be an announcement on that to the public.

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