Universities urged to expose students to International workshops, collaborations

Universities have been told to expose their students to foreign and local collaborations and workshops to enable them to learn first hand from experts.

The Vice-Chancellor, Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, said at a workshop organised by the Carnegie African Diaspora Programme in collaboration with the Centre for Oral Traditions in Africa (COTA); Centre for Ilorin Manuscript and Culture; School of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management; and Department of Religious, History and Documentation Methodologies held at the university’s International Conference Centre, Ilorin.

The workshop was on oral history and documentation methodology.

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The Vice-Chancellor, who said that such exposure would further bring progress and development to society and empower the students to be self-reliant, added that the programme would be intellectually resourceful to fashion out ways of transforming the society.

He added that such exposures would also avail the students with information about international scholarships like the Carnegie African Diaspora Programme.

Speaking in the workshop, the university don noted the importance of documenting oral history, saying that it would help to preserve cultural heritage and preserve artefacts in archives, galleries and museums.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow, Professor Bala Saho, from the University of Oklahoma, USA, who is also a visiting Professor to Kwara State University, Malete, urged Africans to value their cultures and traditions in order not to lose their identities as a people.

He mentioned ways of preserving cultural identity, just as the workshop featured practicals, demonstrations, lectures, musical performances and excursions.