NUC, NOUN Train VCs, Varsity Officials In Effective Governance

The National Universities Commission in partnership with the National Open University of Nigeria has trained some Vice Chancellors and other officials in the University system in development and use of electronic management dashboards for effective governance of universities.

According to a statement made available to news correspondent in Abuja by the NUC, the training was concluded after 12 weeks and had in attendance vice chancellors of universities and other principal officers.

The statement partly read, “The 12-week intensive training course was concluded for 321 participants made up of Vice Chancellors, Directors of Academic Planning, Directors of ICT and staff of the NUC and other national quality assurance agencies in Africa on ‘Development and Use of Management Dashboards for Academic Planning’ to aid governance of the universities.

“Addressing the press after the graduation ceremony, Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, who is the Director/Facilitator-General of the Virtual Institute for Capacity Building in Higher Education, the platform for delivering the fully-practical and fully-virtual training, said the participants were trained on skills to set up governance dashboards that could uptake streamed data in real time for effective planning and management of their institutions.

“He noted that this is in the continuing effort to build capacities of staff in the Nigerian university system in the implementation of the Blueprint on Rapid Revitalisation of University Education in Nigeria (2019-2023) which is heralding the ‘Rasheed Revolution.’

“He added, ‘NOUN is providing the technical platform and technical expertise at no cost for now to participants, while resource persons for VICBHE Modules are experts drawn from all over the world’.

“The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, heads the governance structure of VICBHE. VICBHE was initiated by the NUC Strategy Advisory Committee.

“Okebukola applauded the efforts of the participants, 152 of which earned distinction, and thanked the Vice Chancellor of NOUN, Professor Olufemi Peters, for showing, once again, that NOUN is the No. 1 open and distance learning institution in Africa.

“Executive Secretary of the NUC, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, in his remark, noted that it was heart-warming that since its inauguration in 2021, VICBHE has successfully completed four training modules, and the feedback from stakeholders has been superlatively encouraging.

“In his address, the Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria, Professor Olufemi Peters, underscored the importance of integrating IT tools and solutions into everyday operational activities.

“He noted that the beneficiaries of the concluded training programme, directors of academic planning, vice-chancellors and senior academics, would find the skills useful for their daily tasks”.