The Senate has passed an amendment to the law establishing the National Open University, which will make graduates of the institution eligible for mobilisation by the National Youth Service Corps and to attend the Nigerian Law School.

The passage followed the adoption of a report by the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund on the ‘Bill for An Act to Amend the National Open University Act Cap N6 LFN 1983 (Amendment) Bill 2017’ by the lawmakers at the plenary on Thursday.

In the report, the Senate panel stated that the amendment to the National Open University of Nigeria Act was to bring the institution at par with the regular universities in the country.

The report said, “The objectives of the bill are as follows: firstly, to amend the existing legislation with a view to removing the perception of the public about the university in respect of the word ‘correspondence,’ which gives the impression that the university is not a full-time university and, as such, seen as part-time.

“These two concepts – correspondence and part-time – significantly affect the way the public views the programs run by the university. This has been the reason why the Law graduates of the school are not admitted into the Nigerian Law School as well as the reason for the non-inclusion of the graduates of the university into the National Youth Service Corps scheme.

“Secondly, to include lnformation and Communication Technology as another means of providing tuition towards the advancement of learning throughout Nigeria. The National Open University, as currently run, depends critically on virtual learning and students’ individual research, hence, the need for improvement and introduction of helpful learning tools as presented by lCT. This will further deal with the challenge of limited access in the tertiary education sector.”