American University of Nigeria

Director of AUN Foundation Program, Dr. Robert Doebler, recently broke the news about the new program set to begin in the Fall semester.

The Foundation Program, designed to prepare students to succeed in their undergraduate studies at AUN or any other world-class university, will focus on building proficiency levels in written and oral expression, computer and information literacy, mathematics, critical evaluation and analytical thinking, organizational ability, motivation, and personal accountability.

Offering students a one-year (two-semester) curriculum, the program addresses the needs of students who require additional skill building to proceed with undergraduate studies at AUN.

Applicants who have high school academic records that demonstrate potential for success, but have UTME (JAMB) scores that fall below AUN’s undergraduate admission requirements — a UTME score of 180 or higher — may be eligible for the program.

In an online interview, Dr. Doebler elaborated: In the future, those accepted into the Foundation Program will be new applicants to the University who show clear potential for academic success, but do not meet AUN’s UTME-score requirement. Also eligible are those who meet AUN’s requirements for the UTME and other standardized test scores, but have high-school academic performance that indicates the need for additional preparation before undergraduate study.

Unlike other academic experiences in Nigeria, success in the new Foundation Program will not be measured by tests that require memorization and recitation. In the Foundation Program, tests such as midterm and final exams make up only a small percentage of students’ final grades.

Students will also learn critical thinking skills: writing brief summaries of lectures, timed answers to test prompts, critical responses to readings and multiple-page essays. They will learn how to collect data to create spreadsheets, charts and graphs, and they will learn how to give oral presentations and design and lead seminars for their peers.

The Program, focused on providing students with practice and reinforcement of core skills needed to do academic work at the undergraduate level, will place special attention on thoughtful, personalized, evidence-based consideration, and building of skills versus the building of knowledge.

The Foundation Program’s goal, according to Dr. Doebler, is show students how to do academic work versus doing the work itself, that is, “… to fill in the gap” between the skills necessary to meet the academic demands of secondary school work and that of the University level.

Questions, comments and concerns about the program should be directed to Dr. Robert Doebler viaaunfoundationprogram@aun.edu.ng.