In its efforts to maintain its position as Nigeria’s university of first choice, the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka has introduced entrepreneurship and skills upgrading for students’ employability and ability to fit into the global market after graduation.
Folasade Ogunsola, the vice-chancellor at UNILAG disclosed this during a pre-convocation press conference held recently.
“To further improve the employability of our students, The Career support services was flagged off in the Library Makerspace in collaboration with Icled Business School.
This is to teach soft skills, assist with curriculum vitae, and prepare them for the world of work,” she said.
On whether the university has prepared its students for the place of work, the vice-chancellor said the UNILAG is doing a lot to get the students ready to navigate the workplace and even be able to become self-employed.
“The way we mentor and train at UNILAG, many of our students are prepared on how to navigate the place of work. We have set entrepreneurship and skill development centre where students can go for more understanding on how they can navigate the place of work.
Our major focus is to develop entrepreneurship thinking because whether you own your own business or you work somewhere, it’s the values that you bring to the table that matter.
It is not enough to prepare students for the world of work, but we have to ensure they prepare them to enter it,” she noted.
Ogunsola further disclosed that the university will be graduating 17,464 students at its 54 convocation which starts on Monday, January 15, 2024 with an exhibition to showcase and celebrate the inventions and innovative ideas of students and faculty members.
“This year we will be graduating 17,464 students. Of these, 10,578 will receive first degrees and 6886 will be postgraduate.
Of those with first degrees, 340 are first class with 97 coming from Management Sciences, followed by Science with 57 and Engineering 47,” she said.
In addition, she said; “From the Faculties of Pharmacy, Basic Medical Sciences and Clinical Sciences, there were 39 distinctions 24 of which, were from the Faculty of Pharmacy. 3374 graduated with Second class upper, 4547 graduated with Second class lower and 1,832 with Third class. 188 graduated with a pass and 250 had unclassified degrees from Pharmacy, Basic and Clinical Sciences.”
Ogunsola further announced that the overall best-graduating student who is also the best-graduating student in Science is David Oluwatomiwa AKANMU, from the Faculty of Engineering, with a perfect score of 5.00. At the same time, Ibrahim Abiodun QUADRI, of the Faculty of Management Sciences with CGPA of 4.94 is the best-graduating student (Humanities).
Besides, she that of the 6886 postgraduate degrees, the university recorded a total of 465 graduating with a postgraduate diploma, 6266 graduating with a Master of which 377 have distinctions.
“Most exciting is that 31 of the Master’s students are international students all with MSc degrees who were supported by World Bank grant through the African Centre of Excellence for Drug Research, Herbal Medicine Development and Regulatory Science (ACEDHERS), Bola Ademilua, the centre director worked extremely hard with her team to achieve this.
This is the first time we will have such a harvest of international students at one convocation in the history of this university and this further reiterates and validates the aggressive internationalisation drive of this administration and previous administrations,” she noted.
Also, the vice-chancellor explained that 155 graduands will be awarded the doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree in various disciplines.
She further announced Aminat Olawunmi Ige as the graduate with the overall best PhD thesis in Mathematics which also is the best PhD in the Sciences.
According to the first female vice–chancellor of UNILAG, “The University of Lagos Business School (ULBS) will be graduating its first of students as an autonomous school this year.
In repositioning the business school, to be more globally competitive we unbundled it from the School of post-graduate studies, so it now has its own recognised certificate.
62 students will be graduating from the Business School this year and the overall best graduating student is Abiola Oluyemisi Itakpe with a CGPA of 4.84 who obtained the Master of Business Administration.”
As part of the 54th convocation activities, the universities will be conferring honorary doctorate degrees to three persons who have distinguished themselves by significantly contributing to scholarship and societal development in various fields.
“This year we are awarding degrees to three persons two men and a woman.
Toyin Falola, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker, Chair at the University of Texas at Austin, is a globally acclaimed influential humanities scholar whose wide-ranging scholarship has placed him at the zenith of the global academy.
Phyllis Kanki, DVM, a professor of Immunology at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health in Boston who through her work in West Africa was the first person to isolate HIV2 which causes a milder form of AIDS that was more commonly found in West Africa.
She has contributed significantly to medical education, HIV research and building research capacity across Nigeria, and Africa.
Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, a professor of Political Science, a sound intellectual, an astute administrator with a strong sense of ethics who revolutionised Nigeria’s electoral process and conducted an internationally acclaimed free and fair election.”
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