ASUU Boss Advocates Sustenance Of Part Time Programme

The Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt Chapter, Dr Felix Igwe, has advocated for the sustenance of the part time programme run by universities in the country.

Dr Igwe, who made the call in a telephone interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt last Saturday, however, insisted that the part time programme should be effectively monitored and managed in order to produce the needed result.

His reaction is coming barely four days after the Lagos State government announced the scrapping of all part time programme, and satellite campuses run by the state-owned university with effect from the next academic session.

The ASUU boss described the issue of scrapping all part time programmes as daisy because the programme is intended to address certain purposes in the education sector.

Dr Igwe also acknowledged that certain courses such as Engineering and Medicine cannot be effectively managed in part time programme because of the peculiar way they are trained, adding that any decision to scrape all part time programme is logically wrong.

He, therefore, called for caution on the part of state governments and authorities of universities in handling the issue of part time programme run by the universities in the country.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has announced the scrapping of all part time programmes run by the state-owned university (LASU) in a bid to reposition it for academic excellence.

A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga, explained that the decision to cancel the part time programme of the school and scrapping of satellite campuses run by LASU across the state was based on the recommendation and decision of the governing council.

According to the statement, Governor Babatunde Fashola directed that the current admission exercise for the year 2010/2011 academic session should be the last as far as part time programme in the school was concerned, adding that all stakeholders, operators of the system, the students and the public should be well informed of the new directives.

The statement further revealed that the decision was arrived at after the due consideration of the report of a visitation panel set up by the governor to look into the academic and administrative activities of the school in the last 10 years and take critical look into most of the activities in the school aimed at finding a lasting solution to the incessant crisis in LASU.

It would be recalled that as a result of a prolonged academic crisis in the school, the National Universities Commission (NUC) withdrew the accreditation of nine courses being run by the institution.

The Tide gathered that the cancellation of the Lagos State University’s part time  programmes and abolition of the school of part time studies by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, was a way of streamlining its focus to enable the school get through with accreditation of many  of its courses that were withdrawn by NUC.

The State Government, according to our source, is prepared to bring the school back to a high standard of academic excellence and to fulfill the academic needs of the youths.

Our finding also revealed that there are over 20, 000 students running part time programme across LASU Satellite campuses in Lagos.

Isaac Nwankwo