Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
The Federal University Oye-Ekiti will soon become a dual mode University as Vice Chancellor Prof. Kayode Soremekun has held several meetings with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in Vancouver, Canada, with a view to strategise on transiting the institution into a Dual Mode University, combining the existing conventional academic programmes of the institution with a Distance Learning Programme.
COL is an intergovernmental organisation established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1988 to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledgd and resources.
Founded mainly for enchancing the quality of educational programmes of the Commonwealth nations, COL hosts a biennial Pan-commonwealth Forum on Open learning (PCF) and Excellence in Distance Awards programme.
Nigeria, as a prominent member-nation of the Commonwealth, has representatives on COL’s Board of Governors, a position which enables the country’s fast growing academic institutions to have linkages with the organisation on Open Learning and Distance Programme.
Speaking with newsmen on the development, Prof. Soremekun said: “I have visited COL and held series of meetings with the organisation and the matters discussed were focused on developing FUOYE with regards to quality assurance, employability and the strategy to transit FUOYE into a Dual Mode University.
Dual Mode means that we are complementing our existing orthodox programmes with the Distance Learning Programme.”