ESCENARIOS DE SIMULACIÓN

Materials are developed by academics of the main university, with support from expert staff from the Centre. The Centre is currently developing strategies to be able to sub-contract non- university staff to develop materials, and has already been able to bring a few external experts in to support materials development. Although there is some use of audio cassettes (for English and Communication Skills courses), print is the dominant medium.

The process of materials development begins with subject specialists, who are located within mainstream university departments. These specialists are paid by the Centre for their work. Payment is around N3,000 for up to eight lectures – which make up a unit. Payment for speedy delivery of the course is doubled. Materials are also submitted to another content specialist for content editing. If major modifications are required, there is a process of dialogue between the content editor (who is usually a senior academic in the same department) and the course writer. In some instances, the Centre has run residential workshops to speed up the writing process. In such workshop, several writers are brought together for a combination of intensive training and materials development.

Once this is complete, if necessary, the materials are passed on to a language editor for final editing, before they are passed on to the Centre to be put into the layout and format required by the Centre (where common headings, fonts, footers, and so on are applied to the materials). There is one graphic artist appointed at the Centre, who takes care of any graphical requirements within the materials. Final printing is sub-contracted to commercial printers, and one copy of a study guide for one unit usually costs around N300 to print.

Given technological realities, most of this materials development and editing process takes place manually on hand-written or typed materials. Where materials have been typed, this is typically done by secretarial support rather than by materials developers themselves, and corrections are also incorporated by this secretarial support. Capturing materials on computer is done at the main University’s computer centre, at a price of approximately N20 per page.

On completion, copyright of materials resides with the university. Students studying full-time via contact education on the main University campus are able to access materials in the University library.

There is little ongoing review of materials once they have been developed.

DELIVERING PROGRAMMES

Students depend primarily on course materials when working through the course, but there are also contact sessions. When the Centre was established, there were 11 contact centres located around the country, intended to provide face-to-face support to learners, but these were closed in 1994. Currently, the Centre has been using schools in Abuja to provide lectures and tutorials to learners. It pays a nominal rental fee for use of these facilities. Plans have been established to re- open some of these centres:

The new arrangement is to re-open, on staggered basis, a centre in each of the six geo- political zones of the country, as from 2001/2 academic session. In addition to Abuja, the proposed new zonal centres will be at Enugu, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Jos, Maiduguri and Zaria. The first three centres to take off in October 2001 are Enugu, Lagos and Zaria. It is hoped that courses to be offered in zones, apart from Abuja, shall be on a cost effective basis. This means that only programs that would attract candidates for a standard class would be floated in the study Centres outside Abuja. Certainly, courses where only a handful of students are likely to register would be jettisoned.23

The Centre has also started building its own classroom facilities in Abuja.

Contact sessions are run once a month on Fridays and Saturdays. There are approximately 12 hours of contact per session (sessions are annual) per course. These are intended as tutorial centres, but usually comprise traditional lecturing by academic staff. Travel and accommodation are the responsibility of students.

During contact sessions, lecturers also often sell handouts to learners (at anything up to around N300 per handout). This practice is not sanctioned by the Centre, as lecturers – who also mark assignments and examinations – indicate to students that such handouts are critical to successful completion of the course and proceeds from such sales are pocketed by the lecturers. This exploitation of students by individual lecturers was euphemistically described as the ‘Nigerian factor’.

There is continuous assessment, usually in the form of tests and take-home assignments, as well as a final examination. Assignments are usually delivered and returned at face-to-face sessions, which means turnaround time for assignments is generally at least a month. Very little feedback is provided on assessment. Moderation of examination does takes place, using external moderators from other universities within Nigeria.

23 _{ibid. p. 89.}

ADMINISTRATION

The Management Board of the Centre is presently the highest administrative organ of the Centre on matters of policy. It is chaired by the University Vice-Chancellor, and comprises the principal officers of the University, Director of the Centre, Deans of Colleges, the Directors of Academic Planning and Computer Centre, and representative of senior staff of the Centre. It is answerable to the University Council. In addition, there is an Academic Board, dealing with all academic matters of the Centre, as well as a Management Committee and an Admission Committee for the Centre.

Registration and admission of all students is conducted at the Centre (although this will be extended to other contact centres as and when these are re-opened). The Centre insists that students be at least 22 years of age to register, in order to maintain focus on mature working adults. Students receive course materials on registration. All student records are kept at the Centre. They are captured on a DOS-based administration system (currently being upgraded to a Windows-based system), as are all student results.

Funding for the Centre comes directly from the National Universities Commission, but is paid into the main bank account of the University. Likewise, student fees are administered by the central finance department of the University. Money is then made available to the Centre as determined by the central finance department. This has created ongoing problems, with the Centre being regarded in some senses as the poor relative of the University.