University of Ibadan

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

In a convocation ceremony held on 14 November, 2016 at the International Conference of the University of Ibadan, UI, UI Vice Chancellor, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka disclosed that a total of 5,598 candidates graduated from 14 Faculties and Distance Learning Centre, DLC.

Breaking it down, Olayinka said 117 made First Class Honours, 1,407 made Second Class Honours (Upper Division), 3,020 made Second Class Honours ( (Lower Division), 666 made Third Class Honours, 74 made Passes and other 314 had Unclassified Degree.

According to him, a further breakdown shows that 13 out of the 117 First class graduands, were from the Faculty of Arts; 25 were from the Faculty of Science, one each from the Faculties of Basic Medical Sciences, Clinical Sciences and Public Health; 13 from the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, 12 from the Social Sciences, eight from the Faculty of Education, 17 from the Faculty of Technology and two from the Faculty of Law.

Olayinka who explained that the DLC which provides access to University Education for those who could study at home while on their job also turn out high quality graduates for the manpower need of the country said, a total of 1,762 candidates graduated from DLC with four making first class. “Similarly, 919 candidates are graduated from our Affiliated Institutions, 20 of them in First Class Division”, he added.

Olayinka who said that his administration is poised at ensuring that graduates of the institution get jobs said that the institution has establishment Career Development and Counseling Centre saddled with the recruitment and placement quest of graduating and Industrial Training students.

UI Principal officers.JPG

He said, “In the case of graduating students, efforts are on-going to reach corporate organizations to conduct recruitment tests. The responses have been quite encouraging. For instance, one of such efforts yielded the on-going collaboration between the Centre and the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company in which, a total of 73 final year students from the Departments of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and a few Master students from Faculty of Law are being considered for enlistment in the company.

It is gratifying to note that 24 applicants have been selected to take up appointments with the multinational construction company as Trainees in the first instance during their service year and appointments substantiated afterward. Satisfied with the model used for the selection process, the Company has also pledged a continued partnership with the Centre in the area of student career and capacity development”.

Boasting of the success the premier institution has recorded, he said, “In the recently announced Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2016-2017, we emerged among the 801+ category. As you are aware, UI was the only university in Nigeria to make the list. The World University Rankings are the only global university rankings to examine a university’s teaching environment, as others focus purely on research. In the latest ranking, UI’s score was distributed as follows: teaching (the learning environment) (27.5%), international outlook (28.8%), industry income (innovation) (40.4%), research (volume, income and reputation) (11.3%) and citations (research influence) (5.7%)”.

In her valedictory speech, one of the First Class graduands, Oluwatosin Falayi, said that years back, her admission into the school was received with mixed feelings stressing that though, she was happy that she was offered admission she felt bad for not giving medicine that she applied for but physiology.

Graduands

“I enquired about the possible things I could do with physiology and the responses I got were the same; “You will have to be a lecturer”. This threatened to destroy my morale. However, the word of encouragement I got from my friends and family made me realized I was restricting myself with myopic thought process. Even as I stand, I have come to the understanding that the liberal education that UI offers is that we can acquire transferable skills which can be used to solve world problems regardless of whether you studied Physics, Physiology or Economics. What I am trying to say is that nobody should settle for what life throws at you”.

However, the ceremony did not go without a hitch as some graduands, at the middle of the ceremony became unruly demanding that the ceremony be brought to a close because they were hungry.

All the appeals from the institution’s registrar for orderliness who asked them to take their seats were rebuffed.

The situation was brought under a control after the registrar exclaimed, “This is not a character known with the University of Ibadan”, and ordered that all the doors to the hall be closed.