A Professor of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Gideon Sunday Omachonu, has said that he was happy and excited about what he saw at the Port Harcourt Study Centre, Rivers State.
Omachonu made the assertion in a chat with NOUN News correspondent during his exams monitoring tour of the centre on Wednesday, May 22, 2024.
The linguist, who is a veteran external examiner and public exams resource person, having worked with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO) and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), described the manner in which exams were administered at the Port Harcourt centre as near perfect.
"The vigilance with which the invigilators man the exams as well as how everything is well arranged and properly organised indicates that the centre director, Dr. Theresa Ucheoma Ettu, is already on top of the game in terms of trying to uphold standard as expected of us at NOUN," he said.
Omachonu, who was warmly received by Ettu, along with members of staff of the centre, opined that what upholds the sanctity of NOUN and any other university that is worth the name is the quality of its examinations. "Once that standard is compromised, the sanctity of the university and what it offers is lost and there is nothing to be proud of any more," he added.
The don urged the management of NOUN to provide, as a matter of university-wide measure, a continuing education opportunity for invigilators and all resource persons involved in exams administration, "so that we may continue to improve on rather than regress from the standard we have achieved so far."
Omachonu observed that diverse novel methods of cheating and exams malpractice are being evolved especially with the ever-advancing technological innovations.
"We know that the younger generation is by far more tech savvy than we older people. The university has got to watch this carefully and be proactive in placing checks to these diverse new methods of exams malpractices.
"Everyone involved in exams at NOUN must do their utmost to improve on their technology literacy in order to catch up with and be able to checkmate these new trends in exams malpractices," he said.
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