ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF QUALITY ASSURANCE IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper gives an insight into the meaning of quality, assurance, quality assurance and quality assurance in ODL.  To the relativists, quality is like beauty that lies in the eyes of the beholder while the objectivists believed that quality can be specific attributes that can be identified.  Quality is the responsibility of everyone in an educational institution and it should be a continuous process and not considered as one-time activity.  However, assurance is primarily about ensuring accountability to stakeholders.  It is a confidence that one has about a thing after all possible doubt has been eliminated.  Quality assurance is a process through which a higher education institution guarantees to itself and its stakeholders that its teaching, learning and other services consistently reach a standard of excellence.  Quality assurance could be internal or external. Quality assurance in ODL includes developing and producing learning materials, academic programmes, service and support, as well as standards of students learning. The paper also identified competition, customers’ satisfaction, maintaining standards, accountability, improving employee’s morale, motivation, credibility, prestige and status and image and visibility as some of the issues in ODL.  While contribution to national development, devising a credible and universally set of quality assurance, fostering global competencies among students, inculcating a value system in students, promoting the use of technology, quest for excellence and availability of practitioners are some of the challenges of quality assurance in ODL institutions in Nigeria.