Building Stakeholders’ Relations in Open and Distance Learning: The Quality Challenges at Play (Published)
Building stakeholders’ relations in ODL has the potential to release untapped potential and transfer of expertise through collaboration. However, there are some sticking challenges at play and this study examined these challenges to building stakeholder’ relations in ODL. This was a qualitative study. Information was collected through a survey of four regional campuses informed by a purposive sample of 284 students and sixty members of staff. Some very glaring challenges in the way of building stakeholders’ relations in ODL were unearthed. Suppressed voices working to scare away potential partners were seen as inhibitors and silent assassins of efforts to building stakeholders’ relations in ODL. There were far more damaging attitudes to ODL stakeholder relations than those that promote it. Some of the manifestations of these damaging attitudes were seen through the otherness of ODL institutions and their students, the low status accorded to ODL and the inherent belief that learning equals face-to-face teaching. The invisible hand of power from a close knit highly conservative old boys’ clique from conventional universities was visible in this study. The study concluded that ODL cannot therefore fulfil its purpose of building stakeholders’ relations without reference to these challenges some of which are inflicting shock and injury to the staff and students. The study thus, recommended a re-thinking on conditions building stakeholders’ relations in ODL considering that this issue is more than an academic argument about definitions of meaning. It is the question of who gets what from the paymaster’s limited pot and why (Doherty, 2008).
Keywords: Education, Open and Distance Learning, Quality control, Stakeholder
Environmental Management and Control Education in Nigeria (Published)
The application of sophisticated technology in a laissez- faire economy to provide for the diverse needs of ever increasing population led to series of environmental stress and crises. The magnitude and complexity of these environmental problems evoked the raising of alarm from various quarters calling for urgent attention to the myriads of environmental problem issues, if man’s survival will be guaranteed. These alarms created the pressure that later gave rise to environmental management and control discipline and profession. In practical terms, environmental management and control is multi-disciplinary in scope and requires the training of crops of professionals that will be equipped with critical and analytical skills to provide both preventive and corrective measures to address all dimensions of environmental problems. Thus, the environmental and control education aims at training and producing competent personnel that will be intellectually equipped with sufficient and relevant theoretical and technical knowledge as well as skills for dealing with the problems caused by developmental projects and also who will possess the multi-disciplinary perspectives to team up with other professionals to achieve sustainable development in various aspects of human endeavours. Regrettably, it is only 30 out of 107 Universities and other 52 degree/HND/NCE awarding tertiary institutions in Nigeria that offer environmental management and control education. This is abysmally too low and poor which partly explains why environmental problems appear intractable in Nigeria. For sustainable development to become feasible and realizable in Nigeria, environmental education must be made compulsory in all tertiary levels of education as well as in pre-tertiary schools. Environmental management graduates are trained to work in the public and non-public establishments and as well as possess adequate skills to set up their private consultancy firms and become employers of labour.
Keywords: Education, Environment, Management, developmental projects., multi-disciplinary, preventive and corrective measures