From-right-Deputy-Director-Admin-Prof-D.-E.-Okurame-Director-Prof-A.-Oyyesoji-Aremu-and-Deputy-Registrar-M.-A.-Adewumi.jpg

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

The Director, Distance Learning Centre, DLC, of the University of Ibadan, UI, Professor Oyesoji Aremu today disclosed that the National Universities Commission, NUC, has approved an additional nine degree programmes for the centre.

Aremu, who stated this during a brief media chat at the centre’s headquarters situated at Moroundiya, Ibadan said that the centre now has 15 degree programmes, urging prospective students to take advantage of the new opportunity for the new academic session.

According to him, the three newly accredited programmes are: B.A. History, B.Sc. Sociology and B.Sc. Computer Science, while six old programmes reaccredited out of 17 courses the centre lost their accreditation are: .Ed. Adult Education, B.Ed. Guidance and Counseling, B.Ed. Educational Management, Bachelor of Library and Information Science, B.A Communication and Language Arts, and B.Sc. Statistics.

Aremu noted that B. Sc. Nursing is yet to scale through from the table of NUC saying, “To be more open, initially, B.Sc. Nursing was among the new courses that we proposed to NUC but when we were told to hold on, we quickly approached CLA department which wrote all the necessary materials we need for accreditation within two weeks. So we replaced Nursing with CLA and it was approved. Come September this year, we will be advertising 15 courses for admission. We are still discussing with NUC about Nursing”.

The director noted that at present, the centre has just six courses because it lost accreditation for courses due to insufficient and archaic course materials explaining, “Initially, we had 17 departments but we later lost accreditation for 11 courses leaving behind just six courses which we are currently running. At the time we had 17 courses, we were having about 16,000 students and now we have about nine thousand students. I am happy today that our lost glory has been restored. This is the beginning of more new things to come. We are fully prepared for the new challenge and I want to let you know that the welfare of our students will be paramount to us”.

Lauding the institution’s Vice Chancellor, he said: “I sincerely appreciate our amiable Vice Chancellor, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, FAS and the Management Team for the unflinching support they have been giving to the Centre. This is indeed a laudable achievement for our great university. Again, I must acknowledge the leadership of the erstwhile Director of the centre, Professor Bayo Okunade and former Deputy Director (Administration), Professor S.O. Oyetade who was part of that team. The exercise could not have been successful without the profound involvement of Professor Alex Ugwumba and the University Accreditation & Ranking Committee. Similarly, the Director of Academic Planning, Professor V.O. Okoruwa is commended for his support. The DLC in-house Accreditation Committee led by Professor Femi Akinwunmi is also duly acknowledged. I thank Heads of the nine Departments now on board for their commitment to this course that led to our 100 percent success. Finally, hearty thanks to all the stakeholders of UIDLC. Words are not enough to quantify how grateful we are at the Centre”.