Department planning to revive national open-university concept

THE Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology plans to revive the national open-university concept, according to Minister Wesley Raminai.
He is concerned about the limited capacity in universities and colleges in the country, resulting in the demand for space in higher education institutions.
He pointed out in a statement that the number of Grade 12 school leavers continued to increase annually, but spaces available in universities and colleges remained static.
The open-university concept was introduced to address the capacity issue but was later shelved.
Raminai plans to set it up in the 89 districts to make higher and technical education equitable, accessible and affordable to all.
He said the Constitution stipulated education as a right for citizens. In 2013, Cabinet declared the concept as a positive-impact project, setting up campuses in the 89 districts.
The Government chose to instead invest in open and distance learning in pursuit of equity, empowering the poor, remote and disadvantaged people and to narrow the gap between privileged and inaccessible people.
The number of Grade 12 school leavers has increased at around 11 per cent annually.
He believes that the way forward is to revive the open-university concept to provide opportunities for school leavers and other eligible citizens to access higher and technical education at the district level.
He said the main objective of the concept was to “advance and disseminate learning and knowledge by a diversity of means, including the use of any communication technology to provide opportunities for education to a large segment of population in the rural setting”.