>
By Emmanuel Adeleke
The management of Lead City University, Ibadan, has reiterated that it will not rest on its oars in attracting highly qualified academic staff to all the departments in the institution in order to sustain the culture of excellence for which the university is known.
The Vice Chancellor(VC) of the institution, Professor Kabiru Adeyemi, stated this during a breakfast media chat organised by South West Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP).
According to Adeyemo, the management and staff in their collective and conscientious efforts have transformed the University into an academic environment of creativity, discovery, learning and innovation.
He noted that, the institution has indeed, been launched into the orbit of excellence in university education in Nigeria.
“We consolidated our past achievements and glories in research, teaching and community services while solidly enhancing our commitment to stamp our name on the global map of academic excellence and reputation,” the VC said.
Adeyemo explained that as part of the efforts to strengthen the existing academic standard of the institution, 68 teaching staff and 183 contract staff have been employed.
“Specifically, in this year alone, a total of sixty-eight (68) new teaching staff have joined the University. Among them were four (4) full Professors, five (5) Associate Professors and seven (7) Senior Lecturers. Forty-five (45) other lecturers from Graduate Assistants to Lecturer I were appointed into various Departments. A total of one hundred and eighty-three (183) other lecturers were contracted on adjunct and visiting basis to strengthen the existing full time staff capacity. We recruited two expatriate academics, one from UK and the other from Australia.
“The University also placed high priority on training and re-training of its staff. In view of this, about forty-six (46) members of staff which comprised both academic and non-teaching staff were sponsored to various trainings, conferences, workshops and seminars both locally and overseas during the year,” the VC said.
He added that the institution has continued to explore partnerships and collaborations from across the world, stressing that such
collaborations and partnerships will provide opportunity for the staff and students to work with the best of their peers and gain access to complementary resources, equipment and knowledge.
Adeyemo enjoined all tertiary institutions in Nigeria to always base their appointment on merits and not religion or ethnicity.
In his remarks, the chairman of SWEGOP, Mr Yinka Agboola, implored the management of Lead City University to look into the cases of some extremely brilliant students who dropped out of school due to financial challenges by offering them scholarship.
He stated that this will give them the room to compete with their peers in the society.