‘Adopt open university system’

Secretary General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), Professor Etiene Ehouan Ehile, has urged policy-makers on the continent to adopt an Open University system as a means of expanding access to tertiary education.

“Research and teaching are the two powerful tools that can completely eradicate poverty in Africa but unfortunately, the gross enrolment to tertiary education in Africa currently stands at only six per cent as against the global gross enrolment of 28 per cent,” he said.

Professor Ehile made these remarks in Accra when an 11-member Governing Council of Laweh Open University College (LOUC) College was inaugurated.

He noted that infrastructure in existing public universities were overstretched and, therefore, policy-makers in Africa needed to adopt deliberate strategies to provide access to people who could not get access to tertiary education through the traditional means.

The Consulting Director of LOUC, Professor Joshua Alabi, on his part said the college was operating in a virtual environment with 80 per cent of the teaching and learning process done online with minimal face-to-face interaction between lecturers and students.

Governing Council

The council is made up of eminent academics. It is tasked to work with both national and international partners, to position the university, to achieve its vision of being a world-class open higher education provider.