Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan
All roads led to the University of Ibadan today as the Premier University celebrates its 69th Anniversary with the commencement of the Convocation ceremonies.
The Vice Chancellor of the Institution, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka disclosed in his speech that a total of 5,629 First Degree graduates would be graduated today and tomorrow.
“The best graduating student for the 2015/2016 session is Daniel Kenechukwu Nkemelu from the Department of Computer Science with, a perfect Cumulative Grade Point Average of 7.0 out of a maximum of 7.0. Daniel is currently on a MasterCard Scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA for a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering, the VC added.
The Vice Chancellor stated further, “For the first time since this university was established 69 years ago, a student has broken the jinx by earning a First Class Honours from our world-acclaimed Ibadan School of History, Department of History. We warmly congratulate Ozibo Ozibo Ekele who is graduating today with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 6.6 out of a maximum of 7.0”.
Olayinka lamented that the disruption in the school academic calendar as a result of student and staff strike actions made it impossible for the school to graduate 2016/2017 set who are currently in their final years, noting that the disruption led to multiple revisions to the academic calendar.
The breakdown of the graduating lists shows that 3.5 percent and 28 percent of the graduating students finished with First Class and Second Class (Upper) Honours respectively. The summary of First Degree Graduands reveals a total of 186 and 1,538 making First Class and Second Class Upper Division respectively, 3, 133 and 434, making Second Class Lower Division and Third Class respectively while 81 made Pass and 257 unclassified.
Olayinka said, “I am aware that there have been, of recent, strident public criticisms of the large number of First Class graduates from the universities. I hasten to add that we are exceedingly proud of all Ibadan graduates. We see this phenomenon from the strategic point of view of Input-Process-Output. In specific terms, the University of Ibadan has arguably the most competitive mechanism for undergraduate admission in the country. Only one out of 16 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, UTME, candidates who made the University of Ibadan their First choice can secure admission here. Our admission process is transparent and merit driven while our Faculty rank among the best in the country in terms of research productivity. Ibadan is for the best and brightest. This has been attested to consistently by the Times Higher Education World University rankings in which Ibadan is the only University in the country ranked among the topmost 801-1000 universities in the world. It may be worthwhile to mention in passing here that, as shown in table 2, in the United Kingdom, comparative figures from the higher Education Statistic Agency indicated an average of 23.6 percent of their students earning First Class and 49.6 percent obtaining Second Class Upper degree at the end of the 2015/2016 session”.
Continuing, “Among the main highlights of today’s event is that the University of Ibadan is producing the pioneering set of B.A. Music graduates, comparing 12 students one of whom earned a First Class Honours. It is gratifying to note that the Department of Music had earlier secured full accreditation from the National Universities Commission, NUC.
Olayinka disclosed that the Premier University has conformed with the new grading system from the NUC for undergraduate programmes starting with the institution’s current 100 level students pointing out, “The implications of this include 45 percent as the pass mark for all courses in the faculties operating the Course System, the abolition of Pass degree, and a transition from a 7-point grading systems to a 4-point grading system”.
Among the impressive feats boasted of by the Vice Chancellor include: two students, Amida Tella and Oluyemi Ajiboye graduating with First Class Honours at the recently released Final Bar qualification examination 2017 of the Nigeria Law School.
Olayinka announced that the Senate of the institution has approved new and revised curricular for B. Sc. Urban and Regional Planning, Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Estate Management, Bachelor of Pharmacy, GES 108: Communication in French and PharmD, while new curricula are being proposed for Department of Marketing in Faculty of Economics and B.Ed Business Education, Department of Educational Management.
The Institution’s 69th anniversary programme continues till Friday November `17 2017 which is the Founder’s Day and the award of Doctoral degrees.