The Vice-Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Uduma Oji Uduma, has said the institution’s transformation is being driven by sustained investment in technology, research, and infrastructure.
Uduma stated this while delivering his address titled: “From Learning to Leadership: Reimagining Education for a Transforming World,” during the 15th Convocation Ceremony of the university held on Saturday, April 18, 2026 at its headquarters, Jabi, Abuja and across study centres nationwide,
He said “NOUN has continued to invest strategically in technology as the backbone of its Open and Distance Learning mandate. With the sustained support of TETFund, the university has recorded major milestones in the development of its digital infrastructure.
Uduma described convocation as a ceremony for the transfer of responsibility where knowledge leaves the private space of learning to assume public duty.
“You are not merely leaving the university — you are being sent,” he told the graduating class. “The child who is sent on an errand does not walk with empty hands. You carry intellectual capital, discipline, and values. Let your knowledge become service.”
The ceremony, which witnessed awards of Bachelors Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas, Masters, Doctorate and Honorary Doctorate Degrees, saw 24,575 awards conferred — 17,474 undergraduate degrees, 1,788 Postgraduate Diplomas, 5,282 Master’s degrees, and 31 PhDs — including 56 inmates who earned degrees through NOUN’s correctional education programme.
Speaking at his first convocation ceremoney since assuming office on February 11, 2026, the sixth NOUN VC described the moment as“both an ending and a beginning: the completion of formation and the commencement of obligation.”
The VC unveiled Agenda 2026–2031, a five-year transformation plan anchored on technology, research, and infrastructure.
“This University must not merely participate in the evolving landscape of higher education — it must help to define it,” he declared.
Uduma emphasised that NOUN has migrated its systems to Amazon Web Services, resolving longstanding challenges of scalability, performance, and security.
The university now sustains the largest single-instance Moodle-based Learning Management System in West Africa, supporting over 180,000 active users, delivering more than 2,000 courses per semester, and accommodating up to 10,000 concurrent users.
The VC said the university has commissioned a new University Data Centre with dedicated power and advanced cooling, unified its web presence under
The Software Development Unit has delivered homegrown platforms including the NOUN Biometric Enrolment and Attendance System, the NOUN e-Counselling System, and the Staff Training and Development Portal.
“Continuous pedagogical redesign, multimedia enhancement, and learning analytics are improving course quality and student engagement,” he noted, adding that the Directorate of Learning Content Management System is implementing a unified NOUN House Style to ensure consistency across all courses.
On research, 52 faculty members received Senate Research Grants while 71 researchers secured TETFund Institutional-Based Research awards, he said.
Prof. Uduma highlighted the correctional education initiative, which won UNESCO’s Confucius Prize for Literacy in 2018. “Education did not enter the correctional centres by accident. It entered by design, and that design is NOUN,” he said. “This is not merely an achievement; it is a philosophical declaration. Education must not only certify — it must restore.”
Addressing the graduands Uduma said: “The world you enter will test not only what you know, but who you are. Do not measure your success merely by accumulation, but by contribution.
“However far the river flows, it never forgets its source. Remember this university. Honour it by your conduct. Strengthen it by your achievements.”
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