Integrating employability skills into NOUN curriculum crucial, says VC

Miriam Obierika
Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance

The Vice-Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Olufemi Peters, has said that focus on inculcating employability skills into the university’s programmes will help produce well-rounded graduates with capacity to face the rapidly-evolving workforce.

He made these remarks at a 2-day employability workshop themed "Building Employability Capacity for Better Graduate Job Outcomes."

The event, organised by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) for NOUN academic staff, was held at the university headquarters, Abuja.

Peters, while declaring the workshop open, said that students should not only be equipped with academic and subject specific skills, rather, their employability skills must also be developed.

"When students possess these set of skills in addition to their qualifications from the university, it makes them not only experts in their field of study but also makes them to stand out with a full range of skills to offer the society," he said.

He thanked the Commonwealth of Learning for their support to the university and commended the Directorate of Quality Assurance for the wonderful initiative.

The VC urged participants to take the workshop seriously and impart what they garner from the workshop in their various faculties.

The facilitator, Dr. Ephraim Mhlanga, from the South Africa Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE), delivered a presentation on the objectives of the workshop and how employability skills can be infused into higher education.

Earlier, the Director, Quality Assurance, Prof. Juliet Inegbedion, thanked the Commonwealth of Learning for their contributions and commended her predecessor, Prof. Mercy Olusola-Bandele, for birthing the idea of the workshop.

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