ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NOUN (ORIENTATION FOR NEW INTAKE)

For the award of a Bachelor's Degree from 100L, you must obtain a minimum TCE of 120-credit units depending on your programme in a minimum of eight(8) semesters (4years) or maximum of sixteen (16) semesters (8years), excluding the General Studies (GST) Courses. 

For direct entry, students must obtain a minimum TCE of 90-credit units depending on your programme, a minimum of six (6) semesters (3 years) or maximum of twelve (12) semesters (6 years), excluding the General Studies (GST) Courses.

Notes:

(1) The maximum semesters starts counting from the year you were admitted, if you abandoned your studies for too many semesters, you may not be awarded a degree certificate.

(2) Students are required to pass at least one elective course 

in a semester. They must also pass 18 CU (credit units) of GST Courses as specified by the Senate.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Course

A course is a major content segment comprising topics in a particular subject. At NOUN, multiple of courses that make up a programme of study leading to a degree qualification.

Course Code

This should be understood to mean a ‘quantitative system of 

organisation of the curriculum in which subject areas are broken down into unit courses which are examinable and for which students 

earn credit(s) if passed’. The courses are arranged in progressive order of difficulty or in levels of academic progress, e.g. Level 1 or year 1 courses are 101, 102 etc. and Level II or Year II courses are 201, 

202 etc. The National Open University of Nigeria also has a policy of odd number representing first semester and even number representing 

second semester.

Course Credit

A Credit is the unit of measurement for a course. At NOUN, 1 credit unit is estimated to be the equivalent of 7 study units. A 1 credit unit 

course is estimated to take 30 study hours to complete and is broken 

down as follows: 

Study time - 21 hours

TMA - 3 hours, and

Facilitation - 6 hours.

Semester

A Semester is an academic period of twelve weeks, excluding 

examination period. NOUN offers two semesters of study per year: January to March and July to September.

Core/Compulsory Course

A course which every student must compulsorily take and pass in any 

particular programme at a particular level of study.

Elective Course

A course that you take within or outside the faculty. You may 

graduate without passing the course provided the minimum credit unit 

for the course had been attained.

Programme/Discipline

A programme comprise of prescribed courses offered at different 

levels of study. It also refers to a particular field of study made up of 

courses e.g. Bachelors programme in Peace Studies and Conflict 

Resolution. At NOUN, a programme of study leading to a degree 

qualification is made up of general, compulsory and elective courses.

TMA

Tutor Marked Assignment is an electronic form of assessment conducted to ascertain the level of students academic performances. It carries 30 marks broken into three parts (TMA 1-3), each part carries 10 marks. You're expected to submit two of the three TMAs in order to qualify for examination.

PoP

Pen on Paper is a form of examination conducted for students from third year (300L) and above. The write on paper using pen/biro. It's totally offline examination.

CBT/E-Exams

Computer Based Examinations is an electronic form of examination comprising of Objectives and Subjectives. It's conducted for students from first year (100L) to second year (200L)

Carryover

When you fail a course, that's when you score below 40, it's called carryover course and you'll be required to rewrite and pass such course in order to qualify for graduation.