With less than 300 public and private universities in Nigeria, it is not appropriate to say the nation has a glut of universities and that more should not be established.
The Vice-Chancellor, Anchor University, Ayobo, Lagos, Prof. Joseph Afolayan, who stated this on Thursday during a press briefing to herald the first convocation ceremony of the university, noted that with the country’s population and the desire by youths to get a tertiary education, more universities are still needed in the country.
He, however, added that universities in the country should be focused and well-founded.
“The population of our country and the desire of a large number of youths to get higher education, indicate that we need more universities in this country. A lot of admission seekers are left in the lurch each year because of the inability of the existing universities to absorb them.
“We should also note that each university has its carriage capacity and facilities cannot be over-stretched. Therefore, I believe we need more universities and cannot afford our youths lacking tertiary education,” he said.
On the suggestion by some people that some universities be dedicated to producing postgraduate students and hands-off admitting undergraduates, Afolayan noted that such a situation was not common globally and that it would be okay for universities to run undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
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Afolayan, who gave a breakdown of the number of students who are graduating, said the university produced 63 graduands as pioneer products of the school.
“Out of the figure, 23 graduated with First Class degree. The overall best graduating student is Miss Mary Enakireru of the Faculty of Science and Science Education, Department of Biological Science and majored in Microbiology. She has a CGPA of 3.95 out of 4.00.
“Twenty-Seven had Second Class Upper, while the remaining 13 graduated with Second Class Lower degrees,” he stated.
He added that in line with the motto of the university “Character, Competence and Courage,” the products were coming out with a difference and that all graduates of the school were capable of defending the results approved by the university’s Senate.
(Vanguard)
