The Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka has identified university assistance programmes as a way of helping universities in the country to improve on standards and become globally competitive again.
Olayinka spoke in Ibadan at the 8th NAPE-NMGS mini-conference for tertiary institutions held at Trenchard Hall, UI.
Recounting the period he described as “the golden old days” in the history of Nigerian education, the UI VC said it had become expedient for all stakeholders to take steps to safeguard the quality of degrees being awarded in the various institutions so that they can meet the needs of the society and the industry, and also have a good standing at the international level.
As much as possible, the degrees from any national university, he said, should be seen as a national degree and not that of the awarding institution.
According to him, the increase in student population, dwindling fortunes of opportunities for research, inadequate trainings due to decline in facilities available for teaching and research in several institutions across the country accounted for the change in fortune of the quality of graduates in recent time.
“Our early sets graduates from the early 1960s won foreign scholarships, which enabled them to have direct admissions into PhD degrees in renowned universities. They were given exemptions from the traditional compulsory M.Sc course work. This situation arose because of the robust background that the students had from the University in ‘those good old days’.
“The feats of the past can hardly be repeated these days. Employers and captains of industries now design their in-house customised aptitude test for applicants as if they have no confidence in the degrees awarded by the universities.
“It has therefore come to a point where we need to safeguard the quality of our degrees so they can meet the needs of the society. We must not only catch-up with our past glory but strive to surpass it. This is where the University Assistance Programme (UAP) becomes very relevant”, the VC stated.
In her remarks, Chairman, NAPE UAP, Mrs. Tunbosun Afolayan challenged participants to reflect on the state of the nation, Nigeria, and the status of the Nigerian geosciences graduate.
“In response to the growing demand of employable graduates and fewer employment vacancies, let us consider their abating employability and leadership skills,” Afolayan noted.
On his part, President, NAPE, Mr. Nosa Omorodion, urged the congregation of experts to commit to support the present administration in developing a competitive and safe energy policy framework that is suitable for energy production for the future with increased transparency in the oil and gas sector.
