Regional Training and Research Institute for Distance and Open Learning (RETRIDOL) – Commonwealth of Learning Partnership: A 16-Year Journey in Pursuit of Opening up Access to Education

Abstract

This paper highlights the importance, successes and challenges of the 16-year partnership of Regional Training and Research Institute for Distance and Open Learning (RETRIDOL) with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). The paper sees RETRIDOL as the epicentre for the development of capacity in the delivery of Open and Distance Learning in the West African Sub-region. It also posits that the 16 years’ partnership with a leading, globally acclaimed organization that fosters distance and open learning as the panacea for low access to higher education, COL, has been the major factor in the successes RETRIDOL had recorded so far. The paper further suggests that aligning with the COL Strategic Plan, RETRIDOL would make more impact in engaging individual universities in the region in a bid to making a few operate as dual-mode universities, concluding that such efforts will improve access to higher education in Nigeria, and the West African Sub-region (WASR) in general. // Paper ID 108