Benue State University (BSU) Makurdi is to partner with some foreign universities in the area of Research, Innovation, Partnership and Internationalisation to put the institution on a global map to become a referral centre in the country.
The vice chancellor, Prof Tor Iorapuu, made this known during a training organised by the Centre for Advancement and Linkages in collaboration with the Centre for Research Management Benue State University, adding that the partnership is aimed at accessing funding from the European Union by the academic staff of the university to carry out innovative research that would impact on the university community and the nation at large.
According to the VC, some of the university staff who just returned from Germany were told clearly that for Benue State University to access funding from the EU, it must partner with universities from South Africa and Ghana.
Prof Iorapuu said now, BSU is ready to partner with Walter Sisulu University in South Africa in fulfilment of the EU request.
“For me, the partnership is a welcome development because when I became VC in 2020, I asked myself why am I here, who am I here for and what am I here to do? And when I visited all the faculties, I was thinking of what we will do for the varsity to be known for as a university and the first thing that came into my mind was research. So, this partnership for research and innovations will, if properly utilized, make BSU a referral centre.
“Unfortunately, we have not gotten there but we are gradually getting there. This is what we want; we must move forward. We cannot continue to be traditional in everything we do, and what we have heard from our guest lecturer will cumulate into signing a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with Walter Sisulu University to enable us to benefit from the EU grants.
“The MOU is going to be open in Health Sciences and Management Sciences, Law, Engineering and the Humanities but we will concentrate more on science because we have to grow more on technology and innovation. We are partnering with the University of Zagreb and another university in the UK and most of our staff are already in these universities engaging in different activities”, he said.
On his part, a senior researcher at Walter Sisulu, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Prof Dominic Abaver said, part of his job in the university is to scout, identify and bring together organisations to partner with the university for development.
He noted that the hardship experienced in third-world countries, Nigeria inclusive, is so bad that even when universities have good ideas, they lack the funding.
