NOUN Students Tackle Management Over Result Delay
Postgraduate students of the National Open University have called on the management of the institution to release the results of their examinations without further delay.
Some of the students who spoke with our correspondent on Monday said that results of many courses had yet to be released since their admission three years ago. The students, who claimed that they did not owe the university, added that the authorities of the institution failed to address the matter despite several complaints.
One of them, who was admitted in 2015 to study Business Administration, said that all efforts to have his grades released had been abortive.
He said, “This is a programme that should ordinarily not last more than 18 months, yet this is my third year as a postgraduate student. As I speak to you, two of my colleagues withdrew from the programme because they felt that we were going nowhere. Even if one failed any course, is it not better to know it and prepare to resit the examination?
“The university does not fail to provide accounts number in which we pay every semester, yet there are courses that I do not know whether I passed or failed since my admission three years ago. Is that how a university is supposed to operate? The normal thing is for a student to be able to access his or her results after every examination.’’
Another student who spoke on condition of anonymity, urged the vice-chancellor of the university to address the issue.
“The most painful aspect is that there is no one to talk to. When I travelled to Lagos to complain, an official told me that the portal was down. The second time I came to Lagos, I was told to drop my complaint and leave. I enrolled for an online course at the Metropolitan College in London after my admission at the NOUN and I have been able to download my results.
“We were supposed to access our grades on our individual pages on the university portal but the results released so far have left us confused. There are some results that I have that others in my department do not have. There are some of my results that have been released that my colleagues do not have. Also, there are results that have not been released to anybody,’’ he said.
However, efforts by our correspondent to reach the university were abortive as the Director of Media of the varsity, Ibrahim Sheme, neither picked his calls nor responded to two text messages sent to his line on Monday.