Eight students will be graduating with First Class out of 2,754 who will be awarded degrees at the convocation ceremony of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, holding on Friday.
From the total number, 332 will bag Second Class Upper degree, while 766 others will earn their degrees in the Second Class Lower category, and 249 will finish in Third Class category. The remaining 13 students are graduating with Passes.
Sixty-three students are graduating in the Faculty of Clinical Sciences with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), while 1,286 are graduating from the Faculty of Nursing Sciences.
One thousand nine hundred and sixty-two students will also earn their post-graduate degrees. These include 55 new Ph.D. holders, while 1,883 are graduating with Masters degrees, and 24 will earn Postgraduate Diplomas.
At a press parley held at the institution’s Council Chamber on Wednesday, the university’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mojeed Olaide Liasu said that it has been a smooth sail since the Oyo State government secured full ownership of LAUTECH three years ago.
According to him, this year’s convocation is unique in many ways as it would also include the investiture of the university’s 6th Chancellor, His Majesty Sir Ohna Sergeant Chidi Awuse, the Paramount ruler of Emouha Kingdom in Rivers State.
Sir Awuse, the Nne-Nwe-Eli Emohua Xlll (Olo IV), is the first non-Yoruba to be Chancellor of the 33-year-old institution. He is a renowned accountant and politician who has contributed immensely to the well being of his people.
Expressing great delight at the university being ranked by world renowned ranking body, Webometrics, as No 7 in the country and the best state university, Liasu said that both staff and students are committed to doing more in the coming years.
“It is my pleasure to inform you that that our researches have continued to consolidate on the leading positions and that has continued to impact positively on the image of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology”, the VC said.
“For instance, in the year under review, five members of the academics in our university did the university proud by winning National 2021 National Research Fund of TETFUND”. The academics included leader of the LAUTECH NANO+ Research group, Prof. Samuel Sunday Taiwo. He is of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology and former Provost of the College of Health Sciences. Taiwo is a renowned and well decorated researcher. Also in the team are former member of the university’s Governing Council, Prof. Agbaje Lateef; Prof. Ojeyemi Olabemiwo; Dr. Ajamu Solomon Olalere; and Prof. Falohun Adeleye Samuel.
For the first time, LAUTECH was recently ranked the 10th best university and best state university in Nigeria by the Times Higher Education (THE). THE examined 1,799 universities across 104 countries and its ranking table is based on 13 performance indicators, including teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and International outlook. The stellar performances of the university attest to the quality of scholars that the university parades and their quest to contribute to knowledge generation among comity of scholars worldwide.
The ranking of world universities by Webometrics was premised on three factors – impact rank, openness rank and excellence rank. LAUTECH scored 1,779, 1,302 and 2,902 in the highlighted factors.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has meanwhile increased admission quota for medical programme for the institution from 75 to 120.
