VICE Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN), Professor Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba, has said that a total of 132 graduands of the university have bagged first class degree while about 9,298 are expected to graduate in its 47th Convocation slated for November 30 to December 3, this year.
A breakdown showed that 7,830 graduands had first degrees, diploma and certificates including the first class graduands. Post-graduate Degrees and Diploma was 1,468 including 331 Doctor of Philosophy degrees. 982 had masters degree and 155 got Postgraduate Diplomas.
Professor Ozumba in a pre-convocation press conference held in Enugu on Monday, further disclosed that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammedu Sa’ad Abubakar, former governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, and the Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, would be awarded honorary Doctorate Degrees of the university.
The UNN boss also said that the university would confer the title of Professor Emeritus on eight of its renowned professors who had served the institution meritoriously and are still making invaluable contributions to its academics.
Ozumba noted that barely a year the university authority launched its “Roar Nigeria Hub” which he explained is a pilot version of their dream Science Park, they have determined to take it further by mapping out about 45.9 hectares of land for the full-fledged Science Park project which is expected to attract over 400 companies scouting for research and innovations from the university.
“At the international front, we have been able to strengthen our strategic collaborations and linkages with renowned universities in different countries. One of the milestones in the collaboration is the arrangement to train our medical students four years in UNN and two years in Israel under International Management Institute.
“It is also notable that in less than eight months we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Guangxi Academy of Sciences, China, the Academy has accepted to take over 30 Doctoral students from our university. It is remarkable that Michigan State University, which left our Institution at the wake of the civil war, is back. Our facilities are currently benefiting from their collaborations in the areas of agriculture and pharmaceutical sciences”
He also noted, “Through our open and inclusive administration, we were able to restore the confidence of our staff and students in the university administration. We have been able to engender trust and mutual respect between the university and its host communities. The University of Nigeria is making progress today because there is peace and love between the university administration and our various stakeholders.”
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