The Vice-Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Olufemi Peters, has applauded the efforts of the beneficiaries of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) sponsored Train-the-Trainer on Research Proposal Writing and Grant Management as they demonstrated willingness to take research work in the university to greater heights.
Represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Technology, Innovation and Research, Prof. Monioluwa Olaniyi, the VC stated this while delivering a welcome address at a 1-Day Stepdown Training for Academic Staff, which was held at the university headquarters, Jabi- Abuja.
Peter emphasised on the importance of taking advantage of TETFunds’s willingness to sponsor research work, saying this will lead to greater visibility and reputation for the university.
“The university cannot provide all you need and that is why we have TETFUND. It is important for academicians to have a huge number of research grants attached to their resume.
“It is only in this part of the world that we think research is different from our teaching style. We cannot be great academicians without research; it is of utmost importance that we improve our teaching practice and do more research. We have to get to know how our students learn so that they can also do better,” the Vice-Chancellor said.
According to him, “People are de-emphasising physical lectures because currently, people prefer to use instructional videos to learn. The world prefers technology-enhanced learning. It is our hope that very soon, NOUN will be respected globally for the amount of research work we do, just as we are currently being respected for technologically-based academic delivery.”
On his part, the Director, Directorate of Research Administration of the university, Prof. Joseph Omada, buttressed on the importance of taking advantage of the funds available for research work, stating that the funds are underutilised.
Omada said academics need to be able to have mentored students and those under them to go on research work that will enable them solve the many problems the world is facing in their fields.
The beneficiaries of the TETFUND-sponsored training are: Dr. Matthew Ogwuche, Dr. Musa Runde, Dr. Johnson Opateye, Dr. Erimma Orie, Dr. Florence Uchendu, Dr. Henrietta Kelle and Dr. Jeremiah Obera.
They made presentations on the following topics, respectively: “Accessing the National Research Fund (NRF): Pitfalls to avoid,” “Accessing the Institutional Based Research Fund and Understanding the Role of Research and Development (R&D) in Research,” “Planning and Developing a Fundable Research Project,” “How to write a Fundable Research Proposal,” “Strategy to Attract Grant and How to Manage them,” “Research Ethics and Integrity Practices in Research” and “Strategies for Increasing NOUN Researches and Institutional Ranking and Visibility.”
The event had in attendance academic and non-academic staff of the university who were encouraged to set up research teams capable of coming up with proposals and strategies that will help increase the university’s visibility and ranking.
