Abstract
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) was established to provide wider access and quality university education anchored by social justice, equity and equality. To report the extent to which the objectives for establishing NOUN have been achieved, this study therefore aimed at assessing the quality and equity in open and distance learning programme by NOUN. This study employed concurrent triangulation survey design. The population for this study was the entire staff and students of the eighty four NOUN study centers. A total of one thousand, two hundred and eighty seven participants comprising, one thousand, one hundred and ninety one students and ninety six staff of NOUN constituted the sample for the study they were selected using simple random and purposive sampling techniques respectively. Evaluation of National Open University of Nigeria Questionnaire for students and staff and oral interview were used to collect data. The hypotheses were tested with k-Sample Median Test. The findings revealed that there is a significant difference in the assessment of NOUN staff and students’ on the extent of quality university education provided by NOUN. The outcome of the study also revealed that there is no significant difference in the assessment of NOUN students and staff on the extent of equity in university education provided by NOUN. Hence, it was recommended that Federal and state government should formulate policies and enact laws against the discrimination of NOUN students’ certificate in the labour market.