National Open University of Nigeria

Lol. Scour may not be the appropriate term since it only took me about 15 minutes to find those 7 people. If I was scouring, I'm sure it would be WAY more.

 

You can ask....

 

Right. But it costs a lot to run a university, no matter what currency is being used or where it operates. That's why, without explicit statements (and fees) about foreign students, I would expect that they do not admit them. But this is just an inference from the information supplied, not a conclusion.

 

Plus, we don't know how they achieved their posts. Were they noted academics in Nigeria? Were they people US universities wanted to hire irrespective of the source of their doctorates? Were the sources of their doctorates attractive to US universities?

All such lists prove only that those people did it. They don't indicate how, or whether its a thing (as opposed to a few exceptions). Am I be surprised to see doctoral graduates from some Nigerian universities working at US universities? Of course not. Not in the least. But it adds nothing to the notion of someone here getting a degree by distance from NOUN and then, subsequently, seeking a position at a US school. Or an adjunct position. Or someone who already has a position satisfying the doctoral degree requirement of another position. And so it goes.

 

The list was not meant to encourage the OP to pursue a doctorate at NOUN because there is a likelihood that he can get an FT gig. Though it's not impossible. It was meant to indicate, despite Steve's experience, there are people with African degrees at U.S. HEIs. I don't see these as exceptions to any rule because there are no rules stating that only U.S. accredited doctorates are accepted for faculty positions. Most faculty ads state a Ph.D. from an accredited university or foreign equivalent. The fact that only a few foreign-trained academics get these positions doesn't make it a rule. If so, it would be like saying that there's a rule stating only white Americans can work in academia, and the few minorities that make up academia are exceptions to the rule. There are a lot of factors to consider.

As for the list I shared, I couldn't care less how and why they got the position. I think that's irrelevant. The fact is that they got the positions. I never aspired for a tenure-track position. Throughout my degree, I thought about returning to juvenile justice. However, I wanted to prove a point, especially to some of the naysayers on here. I've grown to like academia, and I might just transition to an R2. Maybe to prove another point to someone who claimed the UVI CJ program wasn't ranked, so it was basically no big deal that I got the position. LMAO...

 

I don't know how you can conclude that.

My starting hypothesis is that these people started their academic careers elsewhere and moved into positions at US schools. But it could also be that they were able to pursue academic careers in the US right out of grad school. The reason why it matters is when/if this option is presented as a possibility for US students doing a degree from a school in Nigeria by distance learning. (As was presented in this thread.) That makes it relevant.

 

I get what you're saying. However, it would be relevant if I was sharing a list of DL degree earners to entice the OP to pursue his doctorate at NOUN. Again, this was not the case. Everyone on that list seemed to have earned their degrees traditionally, except for one guy whose second PhD was from UNISA

 

I haven't seen an interesting new find of a cheap and flexible DL offer here, so thanks for posting this
They don't seem to offer DL doctorates though, only Post graduate certificates.

 

It would be good to find out whether a specific African school even allows a foreign student to complete a degree entirely online. When I inquired about such things in the past with various universities on the continent, I was always told that something had to be done in-person. This might have been the exams, or even the very act of showing up for graduation, since they did not mail their degree diplomas to students.

 

Chris pointed to the profiles of graduates of South African universities, who managed to get jobs in American academia. South Africa may be treated very differently from Nigeria. As much as I question standard university rankings, I do believe that rankings that attempt to showcase the strengths and weaknesses of specific higher education systems (as opposed to an untold number of individual universities spread across the globe) have some value and provide insight into how these systems may be perceived in the world. For example, U21 rankings look at "24 measures of performance grouped into four modules are used in the survey: Resources, Environment, Connectivity and Output examining a number of institutions within a nation. The Rankings also presents a separate report on estimates of a country’s performance relative to its level of GDP per capita." While South Africa appears at the 34th spot in the overall ranking, Nigeria hasn't been able to secure a spot on the list of the top 50 higher education systems. In other words, South Africa is a serious contender. Nigeria still has a long way to go.

Link: https://universitas21.com/sites/default/files/2020-04/U21_Rankings%20Report_0320_Final_LR%20Single.pdf

 

All programs on this list says 100% online:
https://acetel.nou.edu.ng/programmes/

 

Nigeria gets such a bad rap from being "the" home of scammers that I, personally, would probably never advertise having a Nigerian doctorate even if I decided to get one for fun. Just about any other African country would be fine. But not Nigeria.

 

That is one shortsighted and cringeworthy comment. A North American who generalizes a very populous nation (i.e., Nigeria has a pop. of approx. 206Million) upon their slight involvement with a few unsavory citizens of that nation-- how quaint.

 

Such an ignorant comment!!

 

I never said Nigeria itself is bad. I said that it is perceived as bad by too many people. It's certainly not a view held only by people from North America, either. And I do feel bad for the good people who live in Nigeria, it's just unfortunate that a few bad people can ruin the reputation of an entire country.

 

If by "reputation" you mean the ignorant impression of those who view their very limited experience as the arbiter of truth, then sure. In reality, it is completely foolish to generalize an entire nation when the same hasty and misguided generalization could easily be levelled against your home nation.

 

There are three questions regarding Nigeria's purported reputation and its possible impact on people's impressions of someone having a degree from one of its schools.

First, is the "Nigerian prince who wants to deposit money into your account" thing a factor when thinking about degrees from Nigerian universities? My observation is "no."

Second, does the spate of diploma mills and other stories of educational corruption (like accrediting a diploma mill in return for a bribe) have an effect? My observation is "no."

Why? Because the first is a meme that just doesn't travel over to other aspects of thinking about Nigeria, like its universities. The second, while real, isn't really known by the general public.

Okay, third. Does the lack of prestige of the Nigerian university system impact the utility of its degrees? Yeah, I suspect it does. And if you did a degree from NOUN, and I was making a decision or forming an opinion about your educational qualifications, I would certainly wonder why you chose that route. (And not in a good way.)

Finally, this discussion might be interesting, but it is moot. No one on this board is going to go out and do a degree from this university. If I'm wrong about that some day, I'll acknowledge it, of course. But I'm not holding my breath in anticipation.

 

Why China is becoming a top choice for Ghanaian PhD students

“China wasn’t my first option for a PhD. Honestly, in Ghana the perception about China or the Chinese system, Chinese products, Chinese whatever, it is not very positive.”

https://qz.com/africa/2102664/why-china-is-becoming-a-top-choice-for-ghanaian-phd-students/

 

Nigeria’s diploma mill challenges and battles have been in the international higher education news feeds for years. A while back they were even looking at not recognizing distance education degrees over how widespread the fraud is.

While this IS a respectable institution and with legitimate distance education programs, there’s no getting around the utility questions that Rachel mentioned. Flags will be raised by many people and while many of the flags will not be fair, life is not fair. Wouldn’t hesitate to pursue the school if one had a work or living connection to Nigeria that can mitigate those flags.