3. Introduction
• Global movement to educate every
citizen
• Focus on removing disparities in
educational access
• Vigorous search for alternative delivery
modes
• Education directed to the full
development of the human personality
4. Introduction - continued
• UN Human Rights Charter (Dec 10, 1948) article
26 deals with the right to education by all
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
• eradication of illiteracy, poverty, hunger
• create intellectual connection to reality
• use education as cornerstone of development
• promote human security and fairness
5. Introduction - continued
• The social and economic dimensions of providing
education for all, within the context dwindling financial
and other resource situations
• astronomical numbers
• the diverse nature of the unmet demands,
• the need for flexible tailor‐made delivery of instruction
• taking advantages of emerging information
communication technologies (ICTs)
• the most logical pathway is by mass education, global
partnerships and collaborations
6. Need for ODL
Demographic changes
& rising enrolment
Success in learning
&lifelong learning
Illiteracy
10. Evolution and Current Developments
in ODL
• Tremendous expansion of secondary
education
• Increase in jobs and professional activities
requiring high level knowledge and skills
• Continuing demand for higher studies
• Kenya: 30,000 out of 90,000 get admitted;
Nigeria: 350,000 out of 1.5M; 12 new Federal
Univ in Ethiopia; 9 new ones in Nigeria.
11. Evolution and Current Developments
in ODL ‐ continued
•About 5% on the average in H.E.
•No African country has achieved the UNESCO‐
defined level of 25% participation in Higher
Education.
•On average, African universities have a shortfall
of 60% of researchers and teachers
•Three out of 10 in secondary school.
•VTE neglected
•One adult in three cannot read or write.
•world’s deepest inequalities based on factors
such as gender, language
12. Evolution and Current Developments
in ODL ‐ continued
• impact is particularly pronounced in Africa, a
continent with:
• the world’s highest illiteracy rates,
• the lowest participation rates in HE
• huge capacity development needs
• 10million seeking employment annually
• 60% of the unemployed being youth, and
• a massive demand for tertiary education
• about 800 Universities.
13. Evolution and Current Developments
in ODL ‐ continued
Open and Distance Learning:
• weapon of mass instruction
• democratises and liberalises education
• flexible and life long
• quality assured and includes all
• allows individualised learning and at own pace
14. Concluding Remarks
• ODL is highly regarded in Europe, Asia, Pacific
and Americas
• ODL has carved out a niche as a major answer to
HE issues world wide
• Suffers from ignorance and neglect
• African Practitioners often on the defensive,
providing very limited convincing arguments
• ODL is still struggling with credibility issue in
Africa. Quality Assurance regime is the answer
15. Concluding Remarks ‐ continued
• Open Universities are trapped in national education
policy environments designed for conventional
universities
• Funding inadequacies, funding misappropriation
• Tension between legal and social legitimisation of
ODL programs and products.
• Infrastructural deficiencies – (low bandwidth, high
cost of internet access, no study centres‐ which lead
to a myriad of operational deficiencies
16. Concluding Remarks ‐ continued
• How can open‐access learning materials and
tools be implemented and maintained in
Africa? Can these resources be localized and
integrated into national education systems at
a lower cost than developing them locally?
• How can mobile devices be used effectively to
provide or support interactive learning?
• How can programs be monitored and
evaluated effectively?
17. Concluding Remarks ‐ continued
• We must change with the time.
• ODL should bridge the gap.
“If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it
has been owing more to patient attention
than to any other talent”. Isaac Newton, English Physicist
and Astronomer (1643‐1727).
• Adopt ODL and wait patiently for lasting
results.
