ADDRESS BY THE VICE CHANCELLOR, PROFESSOR A. IDOWU OLAYINKA, FAS AT THE CONGREGATION FOR THE AWARD OF POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMAS AND ADMISSION INTO MASTER’S DEGREE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN ON WEDNESDAY, 14 NOVEMBER, 2018

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration)

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic)

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships)

Registrar

Bursar

University Librarian

Provosts of the College of Medicine and of the Postgraduate College

Deans of Faculties and of Students

Directors of Institutes and Centres

Heads of Departments

Members of Senate

Members of Congregation

President and members of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association

Members of the Students’ Representative Council

Honoured Graduands

Parents and Guardians of our Graduands

Gentlemen of the Press

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

I welcome you all to the third day of the five-day 2018 graduation ceremonies of the University of Ibadan. I am highly delighted to welcome parents and guardians, guests, well-wishers and Alumni to this joyous occasion, marking the 70th Anniversary of the University of Ibadan. I hereby and specially congratulate the parents and guardians of the graduands, who have come to felicitate with them on this memorable day in their lives. Today’s convocation ceremony is for the admission into Master Degree and awards of Postgraduate Diplomas to graduards who have been trained, examined and undoubtedly found worthy in character and in learning.

I am highly delighted to specially welcome our graduands and rejoice with you and your families on these noteworthy academic achievements. It is my hope that you will positively impact the various sectors of the Nigeria economy and the challenges that we face as a nation.

Postgraduate Education

University of Ibadan as the flagship of postgraduate education in Nigeria and Coordinating Centre for Postgraduate training in this University, the Postgraduate College has continued to maintain excellence in postgraduate training and research. In furtherance of this objective, our Postgraduate College has continued to organize series of inter disciplinary discourses delivered by eminent Nigerians on the broad theme of education and national development. In view of the foregoing, the Postgraduate College has continued to be a major producer of high quality manpower needed to propel development in Nigeria by virtue of age and existing manpower with over 440 Professors, 140 Readers, 235 Senior Lecturers, 253 Lecturers 1 as well as 66 Assistant Lecturers and production of correspondingly large number of high quality manpower to tackle the present manpower challenge of the country and meet the future need of the global village, the postgraduates College has been upgraded and restructured as postgraduate College from the hitherto Postgraduate School, on the recommendation of Senate and approval by the Governing Council at its last meeting.

The Postgraduate College has encouraged promising upcoming younger generation of scholars with an institution of 25,000.00 monthly stipend, waiver of tuition among other benefits. It has invested in capacity building and facilities update by supporting Departments, Centres and Faculties in the areas of Publications, purchase of equipment and refurbishing of infrastructures to serve as motivation to both staff and students. The efforts have resulted in the increase in the number of applications for postgraduate studies from within and outside the country.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the first and second graduation ceremonies, that is Monday and Tuesday, this week, we graduated a total of 7,608 from fifteen Faculties, including Diploma and Certificates students with an impressive figure of 212 First Class Honours and 1,752 Second Class Honours (Upper Division) across the Faculties, as well as Distance Learning Centre and Affiliated Institutions.

A truly Postgraduate University

The vision of the University of Ibadan is to be a postgraduate university with the Postgraduate : Undergraduate enrolment expected to be 60:40. We have been very strategic in achieving this. For instance, we have over the years taken a deliberate decision not to admit too many undergraduates. You cannot be expanding postgraduate admission and also be increasing the undergraduate enrolment without compromising quality.

I am happy to report that in no less than 10 of our Faculties, the number of students completing postgraduate programmes during this convocation exceeds those who completed their first degrees. Moreover, all the Institutes and Centres as well as the School of Business only run Postgraduate programmes. Excluding the students from the Distance Learning Centre and the Affiliated Instituions, the total number of first degree candidates at this year’s convocation is 2,642, while the total postgraduate output is 4,839 (Table 4).

Table 4: Comparison of the number of undergraduate and postgraduate candidates in various Faculties/Institutes/Centres (the Undergraduate figures exclude Distance Learning Centre and the Affiliated Institutions)

FACULTY/INSTITUTE/CENTRE

FIRST DEGREE

POSTGRADUATE

ARTS

421

550

SCIENCE

438

634

BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCE

106

182

CLINICAL SCIENCES

226

79

DENTISTRY

31

-

PUBLIC HEALTH

31

301

AGRICULTURE AND

RENEWABLE NATURAL RESOURCES

193

481

THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

345

466

EDUCATION

339

830

VETERINARY MEDICINE

77

61

TECHNOLOGY

260

351

LAW

134

173

PHARMACY

72

34

INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

-

76

INSTITUE OF AFRICAN STUDIES

-

65

INSTITUTE OF PEACE AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

-

228

AFRICA REGIONAL CENTRE FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE

-

74

CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

-

100

CENTRE FOR ENERGY, PETROLEUM ECONOMICS AND LAW

-

94

CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

-

45

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

-

45

TOTAL

2,642

4,839

I am happy to inform you distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen that today, a total of 1,765 graduands will be receiving their higher certificate from six Faculties. The Figure comprises 16 candidates for the M.Phil, 223 for the Masters in Public Health (MPH), 1,400 Academic Master Degrees, 90 Professional Degree of Masters and 36 candidates for Postgraduate Diplomas.

While we pride ourselves in many accomplishments so far, at the same time, we are working round the clock to achieve more. At this occasion, I can only reflect on a few of our modest achievements in academic and sustainable capacity building since the beginning of this session. Major achievements include approval of an M.Sc. in Monitoring and Evaluation by the Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics.

Activities and Achievements

It is not possible, at occasions, like this to exhaustively report all that have been achieved by the University in all areas since my last address to Convocation. I would naturally concentrate on the achievements recorded in academic activities and human capacity building:

Ø The University of Ibadan, through the Department of Communication and Language Arts emerged the best in the 2018 Future Creative Leaders Academy. A prestigious event involving students from many universities competing with their creative advertisements.

Ø Two Masters Degree Programmes have been approved for the Faculty of Dentistry. These are Masters in Dental Health (MDPH) and Masters in Forensic Odontology.

Ø The Department of Radiology has commenced a Master programme (MSc. Radiology) for the 2017/18 academic session.

Ø The Department of Radiology, in September, 2018 established collaboration with an International Radiologist and Oncologist, Professor Stephen Hunt, Co-Director, Penn Image Guided Interventions Lab, University of Pennsylvania in the Establishment of Interventional Radiology Unit in the Department for Educational and Research activities in the specialized area of Radiology.

Ø Professor A. O. Fasola of the Faculty of Dentistry was re-elected as the Chairman, Faculty of Dental Surgery, West African College of Surgeons.

Ø The Faculty of Public Health has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Diego State University, US and Makerere School of Public Health, Uganda in the area of research and training for Masters Students.

Ø The Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, on behalf of the Faculty of Public Health had a Guest Lecturer, Sarah Anoke from Harvard School of Public Health on the title: ‘LOT Quality Assurance Sampling’.

Ø Professor Ikeoluwapo O. Ajayi, Dr Oyindamola B. Yusuf and Dr F. O. Oshiname of the Faculty of Public Health won the sum of $33,000 for Nigeria Liquid and Natural Gas (NLNG) Award for Sciences.

Ø As part of the Department of Health Promotion and Education’s Gown-to-Town programme on Preventive Health Promotion to reach the unreached at the community level through students’ Field Work Practice. Five communities are presently enjoying this programme in a symbiotic manner where both the community members and the students benefit.

Ø Professor O. O. Dosumu was elected as the Chairman, Faculty of Dental Surgery, National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.

Ø The Registrar, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Dr. T. A. B. Sanusi delivered Alumni Faculty Lecture titled ‘Medical Malpractice & You’’ for 2018 on behalf of the Faculty of Dentistry in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of College of Medicine.

Ø To enhance the delivery of postgraduate education in the University of Ibadan, Senate and Council approved the immediate transformation of the Postgraduate School to a Postgraduate College, headed by a Provost who shall be assisted by two Deputy Provosts. Professor Jonathan Oyebamiji Babalola, FAS, has since been appointed the pioneer Provost and Dr A.S.O. Ogunjuyigbe as Deputy Provost (Administration) and Dr K.S. Samuel the Deputy Provost (Academic).

Ø Moreover, to facilitate efficiency and high productivity in the new Postgraduate College, an additional position of a Deputy Registrar has also been approved. Thus, the two Deputy Registrar positions in the Postgraduate College are designated as Deputy Registrar (Admission and General Administration) and Deputy Registrar (Examinations and Records).

Closing

Once again, I rejoice with all the graduands of today for your scholastic achievement at the University of Ibadan. Having obtained a postgraduate degree, your journey into lifelong learning has just begun, considering the rapid rate of changes and challenges of the 21st century work place. The challenge before you is to impact the society positively through your newly acquired knowledge and competencies. I also enjoin you to be good ambassadors of this great University in whatever capacity you find yourselves. More importantly, may I implore you to always remember the University of Ibadan in all that you do and contribute to its development. The University has invested heavily in you, you should also give back when you are well positioned to do so.

May God grant you all journey mercies back to your various destinations!

Thank you for listening.

Professor A. Idowu Olayinka, FAS

Vice-Chancellor