ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES VIABILITY, THE CHALLENGES IN DPTP AND WAY FORWARD TO PROPEL EKSU TO A WORLD CLASS UNIVERSITY.

INTRODUCTION  Academic programmes viability is a process meant to ensure that the University’s instructional resources are used to meet the Educational Master Plan, the needs of the students and the requirements of both academic and non-academic staff within the University community  It is a known fact that the achievement of any goal is first marred with challenges and difficulties; but once these challenges are overcome, then the realization of the goal.

CHALLENGES  Prolonged Sessions: for the past 4 years, no set has spent less than 7 years instead of the expected/required 4 or 5 years as applicable to programmes, as a result of incessant strike.  Late Submission of Results by Lecturers: Consequently, students do not receive prompt and regular feedback on their level of academic performance. This situation may weaken the morale and motivation of students towards learning.  Inadequate Lecture Rooms at the DPTP, Ifaki Campus: Lecturers have to struggle for space during the lecture periods.

CHALLENGES contd  Reading culture of students is low: many of these students would come to lecture rooms without writing materials, Library facility is not available to them at Ifaki  Transportation problems: some students do trek from Ifaki to Iworoko before getting vehicles to Ado Ekiti.  Some lecturers will not come for lectures until when examination is approaching  Mass failure of students: the Directorate has been experiencing mass failure of students, for example, in Business Administration 2008 set, over 400 students were asked to withdraw in a single class of over 2,000 students after spending 7 years on the programme.

ACCREDITATION The Part-Time Programme lost some programmes due to lack of accreditation of these courses by NUC. Such programmes include:  Environmental Management  Criminology  Industrial Psychology Personnel Management  Public Administration  Social Works

WAY FORWARD! ADMISSIONS: The University should encourage intended students to be admitted into the newly approved programmes in the Faculties of Management Science and The Social Sciences to DPTP. These programmes are:  Management Science Faculty;  Co-operative Studies  Insurance  Marketing  Social Sciences Faculty;  Tourism and Hospitality Management  Environmental Management  Criminology  Industrial Psychology and Personnel Management

Still on admissions, it will be more economically viable for the University, if the professional programmes, which were run initially by the DPTP, now domiciled at the College of Post-Graduate Studies be returned to DPTP. These programmes include: (i)Masters in Business Administration (MBA) (ii)Masters in Petroleum Economics (MPE) (iii)Masters in Recreation and Tourism (MRT) (iv)Masters in Environmental Management (MEM) (v)Masters in Public Administration (MPA) (vi)Masters in Industrial Psychology and Personnel Management These programmes are no longer attractive to professionals, since their admission requirements and academic activities are now being run like the regular Post-Graduate programmes by the college of Post Graduate Studies.

WAY FORWARD! contd  DPTP should be given the autonomy to operate as an entity in the University without being affected by strike actions.  Strict adherence to the academic calendar of the Directorate of part- time programmes by ensuring that the period stipulated for writing of examinations is followed.  Improved quality of infrastructure and learning environment: Expansion of the available facilities- most especially the classrooms and Lecture theatres-to cater for the teaching needs of students, provision of tuck-shops, eateries, bookshop, staff common room for lecturers at Ifaki campus and toilet facilities  Prompt release of results for computation. Students should be allowed to have access to their results regularly.  Effective deployment of ICT as interactive platforms for teaching and learning, having efficient ICT centre for uploading of results. Hardcopies of the results to be submitted to the Directorate in order to combat the delay in processing of results which is a major source of discouragement to the students

WAY FORWARD contd  Introduction of MODULES as teaching aids for students. These modules should be peer reviewed, published by the University Press and sold to students through the University Bookshops. The proceeds to be shared among the 3 tiers within the University, that is, University, Faculty/Department and Lecturers, alternatively  Encourage Lecturers to write text books in their areas of specialization, set up a unit to control the quality of the books produced in order to maintain standard, and also for the books to be sold at a controlled price.  Rebranding of the Academic Programmes: All courses that are not yet accredited should be accredited and brought back to DPTP to enhance the performance and effectiveness of existing programmes.  HND conversion programme of 2 years to be allowed with minimum of Lower Credit

WAY FORWARD contd  Programme Initiation: Other Faculties/Departments which are non-laboratories based that are yet to have their courses at DPTP should be inculcated into the DPT programmes  Lecture/Examination monitoring team should be given more encouragement and logistics support  Increase the teaching honoraria for lecturers at DPTP to motivate them

SEEK YE FIRST ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE, ALL OTHER BENEFITS WILL FOLLOW Thanks for Listening