By Gabriel Dike
McPherson University (McU), Seriki Sotayo, Ogun State, would on Saturday, November 19, 2022 graduate 107 students at its 7th convocation ceremony.
Addressing newsmen on the forthcoming 7th convocation ceremony, Vice Chancellor of McU, Prof. Francis Igbasan, said the university produce 10 First Class graduates.
According to him, McU would install its third Chancellor, Dr. Mutiu Sunmonu on Saturday while the convocation lecture, titled: Developing Intellectual Capital Brining to Future into Present”, would be delivered by the Senior Adviser to the President (Communication and Stakeholder Engagement) African Development Bank Group (AFDB), Dr. Victor Oladokun.
Prof. Igbasan further disclosed that 57 graduates made Second Class Upper, 32 Second Class Lower and eight obtained Third Class.
He defended First Class graduates produced by private universities, I don’t believe we are churning out first class. We have to look at the quality of their students and lecturers. McU is proud of its students. Our students in Department of Accounting before graduation, they have passed ICAN.
Our first class graduates are competing well with their counterparts in public universities. Many of McU products are doing well all over the World.”
The VC insisted the country needs more private universities to cater for many candidates seeking for admission but don’t get because of carrying capacity of universities and lack of facilities.
He added: “Look at the population of Nigeria, I don’t think we have enough universities. Many candidates apply every year for admission, only 20 percent are offered admission.
“This is an indication that we don’t have enough universities. With 200 million population, this country need more universities. Lack of facilities is hindering admission of more candidates.”
Prof. Igbasan said McU has ran ten successful academic sessions without experiencing any crisis.
The VC stated that McU is known for quality research and that one of its lecturers got $150,000 research grant recently.
On courses, the VC revealed that McU 20 programmes have been accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) while four others are undergoing accreditation currently.
He confirmed that McU would soon commence admission for its approved College of Medicine while the College of Law awaits resources verification exercise by NUC, adding, ‘we have been given approval to start postgraduate courses. We are starting with MSc and PhD in Computer Science.”
Prof. Igbasan said the university management has made Religion and Peace Studies free while tuition fees for English Language, Finance and History and International Studies have been reduced to attract more students.
The VC, who assumed office in August 2020, the used the occasion to highlight some of the achievements the university recorded in the last ten years and under his administration.