Pioneer students of the Technical University will resume for academic activities on January 7, 2018.
This disclosure was made by its pioneer vice-chancellor, Prof. Ayobami Salami, at a press conference held inside the council chamber of the institution.
According to Salami, ”many of those who applied to study here have received their letters of admission,” reiterating that “Our pioneer students, will come into residence beginning from Sunday 7 January, 2018, for the promised unusual academic journey.”
He said that the responses of the general public to the affairs of the institution as published and broadcast by the media have been tremendously encouraging and revealing.
Contrary to claims that the institution is meant for the few stupendously wealthy citizens of our country, Salami revealed that “we have in place a scholarship scheme known as Tech-U Scholarship Scheme. Three students from each of the 33 Local Government Areas in Oyo State have been admitted to this University through this scheme.
“We just did not ask the LGAs to provide these students. We asked each of them to nominate 10 qualified students who meet our requirements. We specifically requested as a condition that all of the 10 students must have graduated from public secondary schools; are indigenes of the LGAs; wrote the last UTME and scored at least 160; and have at least credit in English Language, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, and either Biology or Agricultural Science.
“This is how we can really reach the underprivileged segment in the state. We subjected all of them to a competitive process (Computer-Based Test) which aligns with the culture of excellence and quality that Tech-U uncompromisingly favours. From this competitive process, we picked the best three candidates from each LGAs and recommended them to the state government for scholarship.
“Those successful ones constitute a consequential number of the students we are taking off with next month. As such, we have a university that provides a level-playing field for the privileged and the less privileged in and outside Nigeria, as well as a state government which privileges education for development,” he explained.
An elated Salami, who said “students’ arrival and beginning of full academic undertakings – signpost for us a historic watershed in our organised efforts towards making Tech-U fully operational” added that “I wish to underscore the point that among the 15 courses are some that are relatively new in Nigerian universities. Take Cybersecurity for example. We want to be foremost in providing solution to the aches of cybercrimes in all its variegated colourations.
“You may already be familiar with the extant report that reveals Nigeria as the third country in the world, after the US and the UK, where cybercrime is prevalent. And sometime this year, President Muhammadu Buhari was reported as plaintively noting that Nigeria loses hefty billions of Naira to this notable crime annually.
“Similarly, our Biomedical Engineering seeks to fill the yawning gap evident in the lack of technical-know-how for the repair of high-tech hospital equipment. In our hospitals, it so often happens that when a machine breaks down, it becomes abandoned and a new one is bought. We intend to train the requisite manpower to help stem the tide of abandoned broken hospital apparatuses.
”There are other programmes like Software Engineering and Mechatronics Engineering. With these and other courses, we want to make the idea of university as the bedrock of societal continual development much more realistic.
“In addition to the two faculties (Faculty of Engineering and Technology and Faculty of Natural Sciences) into which our programmes are situated, we also have two other centres, to wit, Centre for Language and General Studies and Centre for Entrepreneurial and Vocational Studies.
“One of the interesting activities at the Centre for Language and General Studies is the study of French by all our students. It is compulsory for all of them to register for training in French Language. There is an immersion component to the training which is expected to last for two years. The immersion will take place either at the French Village in Badagry or at Cotonou,” he noted.
