By O.V Collins
No fewer than 2,500 Nigerian students who have been displaced by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war will be accommodated and absorbed by the Igbinedion University at Okada in Edo State as a result of the recent academic partnership with the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine.
This was announced in a statement by a representative of the Ukrainian university in Nigeria, Dr. Cliff Ogbede, yesterday in Abuja.
Dr. Ogbede explained that the agreement was reached under the platform of the Joint Transnational Educational Programme under the Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC) Transnational Educational guidelines.
He stated that the partnership will enable the 2,500 Nigerian Students resume classroom lectures in Igbinedion University campus, and would possibly see an additional 5, 000 displaced students of Ukraine from different African countries who would come to Nigeria to participate in the programme.
“In this new collaboration, the two universities would jointly develop educational activities, expanding opportunities for access to all levels and forms of quality higher education, educational programmes and courses, based on the recommendations of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as well as the implementation of the right to academic mobility,” Dr Ogbede said.
“The programme will enable the undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Ukraine university to continue their academic programmes uninterrupted, in addition to the existing distance learning mode, as a similar model is applied in particular for the organisation of academic cooperation with universities in Turkey and some other countries.
“It is also geared towards the creation of a sustainable system of educational, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two universities, based on high international academic standards, thereby encouraging the development of regional cooperation for the harmonisation of educational qualifications, implementation of effective models and forms of education that meet the current challenges and global trends,” he added.
He further stated that asides the programmes, both universities would see to the expansion of the partnership by ensuring quality cross-cultural communications, development of international partnerships for the commercialisation of educational products, encouraging the development of the knowledge economy and enriching the scope of educational programs, disciplines and teaching experience of both institutions.
He also explained that the agreement will possibly enable the two institutions in future to start conducting joint educational programs, degree and qualification courses with common or dual certification, which may include the harmonization of curricula between the two parties and mutual recognition of prior periods of study at the partner University.
Dr Ogbede added, “They would also conduct parallel educational programmes which provides for awarding of separate certifications of each separate institution, and open and distance learning, providing for the provision of quality academic programs and courses leading to the award of qualifications, with no space or time limitations.”
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