When you’re an institution responsible for providing a better learning experience to more than 600,000 students, there’s a lot at stake. Providing high-quality, relevant courses and ensuring that your learning management system can reliably support such a massive scale are critical to your mission. Every click, login, and submission has to work flawlessly, because even a moment of downtime can disrupt thousands of students.
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) serves more than 600,000 learners, with over 150,000 active online at any moment and up to 30,000 logging in simultaneously during exams. That scale makes LMS stability and reliability absolutely critical.
When the scale outgrows self-hosting
NOUN was self-hosting its Moodle LMS platform. However, slow login times, limited storage capacity, and service interruptions became hurdles for the students. It was challenging to handle these disruptions, especially during high-demand tasks or in hard-pressed times.
As Dr. Lukuman Bello, the Director of Learning Management Systems at NOUN, puts it,
That’s when the institution decided to switch from self-hosting Moodle LMS to hosting with a Moodle Certified Partner. NOUN needed to offload some of the technically complex tasks involved in running an LMS and focus on the ones that actually matter to them – designing excellent learning experiences for their students.
How a Moodle partner helped make it work
With system issues mounting and demand for online qualifications increasing, NOUN realised it needed a more strategic and scalable solution. The university took the deliberate decision to seek out a dedicated Moodle LMS hosting expert. They needed a partner who could bring both technical depth and proven experience supporting large-scale education environments.
NOUN outsourced platform hosting, maintenance, and security to Moodle Premium Certified Partner, Catalyst IT. Every Moodle Certified Partner goes through a strict technical review to ensure they can deliver secure, high-quality Moodle hosting and support. As a Premium Certified Partner, Catalyst IT goes further—meeting additional standards for enterprise-scale performance, security, and compliance.
In 2018, Catalyst conducted a thorough analysis of NOUN’s existing systems and challenges, identifying where performance, storage, and uptime could be improved. They then made recommendations for optimised hosting, enhanced security, and ongoing maintenance services.
Dr. Bello explained,
One major game-changer after moving to Catalyst IT hosting was access to elastic storage. This means the bandwidth and capacity automatically expands during busy periods, like exams, when tens of thousands of students are online, and scales back during quieter times. NOUN no longer has to guess how much capacity to set aside or pay for unused space; the system adjusts in real time with little intervention.
What it means for learners and educators
Certified Partners make it their top priority to provide rigorously secure, high-performance hosting. Their expert support ensures that your Moodle platform is constantly updated, optimised, and runs smoothly, so students and faculty can focus on learning and teaching rather than fixing technical issues.
By partnering with Catalyst IT, NOUN has seen firsthand how this translates into a seamless, uninterrupted experience for learners and instructors. Since migrating to Catalyst IT’s hosting in 2018, the system has run at 100% availability, which is a remarkable achievement for NOUN.
For learners, this stability means they never have to be distracted by technical glitches or inaccessible courses. The LMS becomes an invisible, trusted structure that supports learning, collaboration, and engagement, letting them focus entirely on their studies. For faculty and staff, it frees up time and energy to concentrate on teaching, mentoring, and improving the learning experience rather than troubleshooting technology.
Educators have benefited as well. As course content delivery expanded through a variety of resources and activities, Catalyst IT helped NOUN refresh instructional materials each semester, keeping courses engaging and relevant. Faculty no longer needed to worry about manual updates or technical obstacles, allowing them to dedicate their time to guiding and supporting students.
This kind of stability has also driven tangible results.
“With greater system stability comes greater learner confidence, and we have seen this reflected in a steady rise in student enrolments.”
By eliminating technical barriers, NOUN has expanded its reach, bringing high-quality learning to more students than ever before — a clear signal of the platform’s impact on its mission.
“As a result, our positive student feedback surveys each semester demonstrate how we have definitely gained a positive reputation with our learners.”
Sometimes a helping hand goes a long way
Working with a Moodle partner means you can trust that someone is watching over your site at all times. You will receive constructive responses in case of a setback, and you can trust that your provider will advise you soundly on security and data privacy protocols.
NOUN plans to continue with Catalyst IT to expand its delivery process and introduce AI and learning analytics capabilities. This way, they will have the support that they need to deliver what they want to.
Want the same stability and support for your Moodle? Find your local Moodle Certified Partner today.
