Obilor, Esezi Isaac (2019)

This study employed the Time Series Evaluation Design (TSED) in assessing whether the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has made a difference as an intervention from 2003 to 2017. The study compared the position before the establishment of the National Open University of Nigeria and the position after the intervention to ascertain whether or not the intervention has made a difference. The sample size was 18,494,551, which was the same as the population because the study adopted the census sampling technique which directly investigates the totality of the population. The study found that with the admission by NOUN of an abysmally low average of 1.77% of candidates who wrote the UTME between 2003 and 2017, the objective of wider access to university education is a mirage; and that going by this trend, it will take the next 70 years (2087) to realise the intervention for which NOUN was established. It was recommended among others that for the National Open University of Nigeria to be able to provide higher education for all in need (or be able to mop up the unabsorbed candidates by the Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education), a special regulatory body knowledgeable on Open and Distance Learning (not National Universities Commission) has to be establishment to be responsible for providing relevant institutional network for relevant standardisation; supervising the development and production of instructional materials; acquiring of both soft and hard ware necessary for the smooth running of both the administrative and academic units of the NOUN; establishing essential mechanisms for quality assurance and monitoring of NOUN.