During a panel discussion titled “Inclusive Digital Transformation and the University Promise” at the 2024 International Week, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Folasade Ogunsola emphasized the necessity of a policy framework to facilitate the transition from analog to complete digitalization.
“We have extensive cabling throughout the campus, and we owe gratitude to our partners. Currently, we operate at 2 Gbps, but we are capable of upgrading to 10 Gbps. This infrastructure is being established,” she noted.
Prof. Ogunsola highlighted the challenges posed by the Japa phenomenon, which has increased the demand for transcripts from students who graduated over thirty years ago. She mentioned that the university has initiated its digitalization efforts by implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for managing student information.
“Individuals who graduated 30 to 40 years ago are requesting transcripts, necessitating a search through paper records, whereas those who graduated from 2010 onward do not face this issue,” she explained.
Chris Maiyaki, the acting executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), reflected on the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which he described as a turning point for the digital transformation of the nation’s education system.
“It was at that moment we came up with policies and guidelines on transnational education which prescribed certain competitive models to broaden access in higher education and gave guidelines for E-learning that there must be protocol for streamlining,” he said.