Stakeholders in education in the country have advocated that academic excellence between the nation’s tertiary institutions and their products should be tailored around providing solutions to emerging local and global challenges.
The education stakeholders spoke during the two-day seminar, themed ‘Innovation, Teaching and Global Impact’, for staff of Newland Polytechnic, Sango, Ilorin, Kwara state at the weekend.
A renowned project manager and KPMG senior personnel, Dr. Yemi Alao and a university lecturer, Dr. Engineer Timilehin Sanni, who were part of the speakers during the programme, said that teaching method should be continually reviewed, adding that, “review of teaching method is critical, while the process of teaching should also be reviewed all the time, e.g. through group discussion, video, etc all in the bid to arrest students’ attention. Feedback from students is also crucial to know better ways to achieve academic excellence.”
The scholars also charged lecturers of the Newland Polytechnic, Ilorin to promote creativity, and critical thinking, which they described as a hallmark of the institution that could make students be able to solve world problems.
Alao, talking on ‘Rethinking Global Problems’, said, “Leading universities in the world use social problems as a case study to solve challenges e.g. COVID-19. Educational institutions should be solutions to the society by using challenges in the society as case study.
“The world is changing. That’s why our students should be ready for today and tomorrow. We should prepare our students to be ready to solve challenges. Problems of 20 years are no longer the same and will no longer be the same. Solutions we are finding to today’s problems may not be the same tomorrow. We live in a rapidly changing world. What are you teaching your students to solve challenges on a global scale?
“Thus, the need for innovative thinking. For instance, imagine our banking system before compared with current online banking, among other results of innovative thinking. Photography before and now. Robots are now used in banks and hotels, taking people’s functions and job. Technology bringing new challenges. What’s the place of Newland Polytechnic students in this? We must continue to rethink the problems. We must continue to prepare our students for a better world. Because it’s our world.”
Sanni, who said that academic excellence among lecturers is measured by the quality of their students, added that academic excellence should not only be attained but sustained, “since the students will contest with the outside world after their education.
“You can’t give what you don’t have. Lecturers should continue to improve themselves to achieve academic excellence. Every stakeholder should know the roles expected of them to play in order to achieve academic excellence.
“To encourage academic excellence among students, those students who exhibit excellence should be rewarded to serve as encouragement, e.g. educational materials, funding of their ideas in form of scholarship, foreign training, seminar.
“Exam malpractice should be discouraged among both the students and lecturers as academic excellence can’t be achieved in such an environment.”
While declaring the seminar closed, the registrar of the institution, Ayodele Kolawole, thanked the
founder and co-founder of the Newland Polytechnic, Dr Afolabi Rotimi, for providing the opportunity, which he said had enabled participants to share knowledge, ideas, and perspectives to achieve academic excellence.
“We live in a rapidly changing world, and the need for continuous transformation and adaptability is more critical than ever. This seminar has provided a platform for us to explore the various dimensions of transformation, be it in teaching and learning, technology, personal development and relationships with our community.
“I encourage all of us to take the lessons learned here and apply them in our respective departments and lives. Let’s not see this as the end of our transformation journey but rather the beginning of a new chapter.”
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