The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is undergoing a demographic shift, evolving from a sanctuary for working professionals into a primary destination for Nigeria’s youth bulge. Fuelled by an immunity to industrial strikes and the removal of the part-time label, enrolment has surged by nearly 46 per cent since 2021, reaching an active undergraduate population of 133,000. Most notably, Gen Z students (ages 18–22) now represent the fastest-growing segment – ashift that has prompted the National Universities Commission (NUC) to re-evaluate the long-standing exclusion of NOUN graduates from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, IYABO LAWAL reports.

Once viewed as a second chance for working adults, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has undergone a radical demographic transformation. Between 2020 and 2025, driven by a strike-proof academic calendar and the removal of the “part-time” label, the institution has evolved into a primary destination for the Nigerian youth.

The demographic shift is stark. Once defined by students over 30 years of age, NOUN’s fastest-growing cohort is now 18- to 22-year-olds drawn by its no-JAMB requirement. Anecdotal data suggest that the age group grew from 50,561 in 2019 to 236,052 in 2025, while students aged 30 and above fell from 79 per cent to 51.3 per cent.

Graduate profiles reportedly show 89 per cent of NOUN’s 3,112 graduates were over 30 in 2020, but 60.6 per cent of 11,408 graduates were 25 or younger by 2025, fundamentally altering NOUN’s student profile.

This shift has direct policy implications: while older graduates traditionally received exemptions from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), the surge in younger degree-holders has rendered the current mobilisation framework obsolete.

Consequently, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has pledged to re-evaluate NOUN’s exclusion from national service. However, this strategic drift has sparked debate.

Experts argue that without an honest conversation about its founding purpose, NOUN risks being repurposed from a platform for lifelong learning into an unintended detour around conventional university disciplines.

As the largest single-institution academic body in Sub-Saharan Africa, NOUN’s trajectory now forces a critical examination of its core vision and potential for reinvention.

In 2025, the total undergraduate student population was 133,000 (active students). Since 2021, the university has experienced an increase in student enrolment at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

A total of 110,431 students, both new and returning, registered during the 2022 first semester. This is an improvement on the 100,887 students registered for the 2021 second semester.

The newly registered students in those semesters were 15, 212 in the 2021 second semester, compared with the increased number of 17,956 in the 2022 second semester.

The first PhD graduate of the university was the former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was awarded a doctorate in Christian Theology in 2018.

At present, the university has over 200 doctoral students studying in various departments. As the university stabilises its undergraduate instructional delivery processes and addresses the challenges of distance learning, more effort will be directed to postgraduate studies.

The student demographics of NOUN have undergone a radical shift between 2020 and 2025. Driven by stability in the academic calendar, the university has evolved from a school for working adults into a primary choice for Nigerian youth.

The most significant change is the average age of the student body. In 2020, NOUN was characterised by its “mature student” profile. By 2025, the 18–22 age bracket (Gen Z) became the fastest-growing segment.

Data from the institution’s website showed that total student enrolment has surged by nearly 46 per cent over the last five years, largely due to the “youth bulge” seeking alternatives to conventional universities.

Last April, the National Universities Commission (NUC) said it would review the exclusion of NOUN graduates from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The NUC’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu, said the move followed concerns raised by NOUN Chancellor, the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, over unequal treatment of NOUN graduates. The traditional ruler had called for policy changes to allow eligible graduates to serve, saying that current restrictions put them at a disadvantage.

Addressing the concerns raised by the monarch, Ribadu pledged that the NUC would engage the NYSC leadership to re-evaluate the mobilisation framework.

The NUC boss noted that the initial policy reflected NOUN’s past student profile of working professionals above the service age limit, adding that the commission has now observed a shift to younger students.

“Unlike in the past, where graduates of NOUN were 30 years and above, in recent times, you have younger graduates – lessthan 30, who are likely to participate in the NYSC based on age,” Ribadu explained.

That idea of tinkering with the make-up of NOUN did not sit well with everybody. Dr Charles Omole, a trainer and expert in leadership development and good governance, with experience spanning over 40 countries, believes that Nigeria must have an honest, evidence-based conversation about the purpose of its Open University system, particularly NOUN, and whether it is currently aligned with its founding vision.

“NOUN was established by the National Open University Act No. 6 of 1983 (later reaffirmed and amended). A careful reading of the act showed that it does not explicitly restrict admission to ‘mature students’ or working adults. Instead, the law adopts a broader philosophical approach. It mandates the university to provide flexible and accessible education, promote lifelong learning, remove barriers to higher education and expand opportunities beyond the conventional university system.

“This means that legally, NOUN is designed as an open-access institution with no strict age limitation or requirement for prior work experience. However, while the law is broad, the structural design and global context of open universities provide deeper insight into the intended target audience.”

Across the world, open universities were established primarily to serve working professionals seeking formal qualifications, adults who missed a traditional university education earlier in life, and individuals requiring flexible learning due to work, family, or location constraints, argued Omole.

According to him, institutions such as the UK Open University, India’s Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), and the University of South Africa (UNISA) all reflect this model. Their student populations are predominantly mature, employed, or otherwise unable to participate in full-time conventional education. Thus, Omole noted, while not legally restricted, open universities are functionally designed for experience-rich learners rather than experience-seeking teenagers.

Omole, however, noted a noticeable shift in NOUN’s student demographic, citing an increasing number of young people (many of them fresh secondary school graduates with no work experience) enrolling in NOUN.

“This development represents not a legal violation, but a strategic drift. However, there is a growing misalignment between the legal principle of open access and the original functional purpose of serving non-traditional learners.”

Similarly, Public Analyst, John Ude, noted that when a system designed for flexibility becomes widely used as a shortcut to conventional university entry, its identity would begin to blur.

Ude warned that if the trend continues unchecked, the original beneficiaries – workingadults and lifelong learners – maybe crowded out, the distinct value proposition of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) may be weakened, and the system risks evolving into a parallel, lower-barrier entry route rather than a specialised educational model.

“The National Open University of Nigeria has not violated the law. But it may be gradually drifting from its foundational logic. The challenge before policymakers is not to restrict access arbitrarily, but to restore alignment between purpose and practice,” the analyst stated.

A university teacher, Dr Tade Adeoluwa, noted that if the institution focuses on its targets based on global best practices, more than 95 per cent of NOUN’s graduates (after four years of study) should be over 30 years of age, thereby obviating the need for NYSC.

“Open universities are one of the most powerful tools for inclusive national development, but only when they serve the audience they were structurally designed to support. Nigeria must decide whether NOUN will remain a platform for lifelong learning or become an unintended detour around the discipline and structure of conventional higher education,” Adeoluwa said.

Dr Patricia Ugochukwu of the Centre for Research and Educational Advancement said while NOUN has not broken any law, as the policy is not only about legality. It is about intent.

“The United Kingdom’s Open University, on which NOUN was modelled, had 76 per cent of its students in employment in 2024. The average age was 31. At UNISA in South Africa, 82 per cent of students are over 25. Those systems use “openness” to give a second chance to adults. Nigeria’s system is drifting towards using “openness” to give a first shortcut to teenagers.

“If this continues, we risk creating a two-tier degree system, one for ‘real universities’ and one for ‘JAMB-free university.’ The tragedy is that the people NOUN was meant to help, the working adults, will carry the stigma of that second tier,” Ugochukwu said.

Eighteen-year-old Daniel, who graduated from a private secondary school in Ikorodu in June 2025, wrote the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and scored 140. He shared his experience.

“My friends laughed when I told them I picked NOUN. They said NOUN is for old people. But I’ll finish before them. Four years straight. No strike. No ASUU. Daniel is now a 100-level Computer Science student. He comes to the study centre twice a month. Most of his coursework is done on his phone.

“We do virtual labs. It’s not the same as physical, but I’m learning,” he said. Does he miss campus life? “Sometimes. My friends in UNILAG post hostel videos. But I don’t want to wait at home another year.” Student union? He shrugs. “NOUN doesn’t have that.” Is he ready for self-directed learning, the core of the open university model? “I’m trying. It’s hard. No lecturer to chase you. But I’ll adapt. I must.”

With an active undergraduate student population of 133,000 and a total ecosystem supporting over 614,000 learners, NOUN has transitioned from a “second chance” vocational centre into a primary choice for a generation of Nigerians seeking to bypass the strikes and infrastructure bottlenecks of conventional brick-and-mortar universities.

NOUN has a backstory. The idea of an open university for Nigeria was first mooted by the NUC in 1976. The NUC, then headed by Prof Jubril Aminu as executive secretary (1975-1979), sent a memo to the federal military government recommending the establishment of an autonomous open university in Nigeria during the Fourth National Development Plan (1981-1985).