The Matriculation exercise for the 2019/2020 Academic session is billed to hold on Friday 31st January, 2020. The event will hold simultaneously at various faculties by 10am.
However, the Orientation programme for the fresh students is scheduled to hold from Monday,
27th to Wednesday 29thJanuary, 2020 in front of Basil Oli Male Hostel.
This would feature lectures from members of the University Management and some selected staff.
All fresh students are expected to be seated by 9am on each day. Further information would be disseminated to the students at the venue of the orientation.
The School of Postgraduate Studies has organized the 2019/2020 screening test for prospective students in her second tier of admission. The test was held recently at the University library for Doctorate, Masters and Postgraduate Diploma candidates.
Addressing the University Press, the Dean of the School, Professor Philomena Ugokwe stated that a total number of 1,500 candidates applied for various programmes in the school.
Speaking on the essence of the test, Prof. Ugokwe stated that the University places great importance on quality assurance hence the test is geared towards admitting the right candidates. “Postgraduate programme is a serious and important aspect of Education in the country. They provide the manpower for National development”, she added.
She further disclosed that the successful candidates will be admitted in March and would commence lectures in April.
For the first time in history, five UNIZIK Academic staff have received a huge chunk of the funding from the TETFUND National Research fund after the approval of their concept notes in 2019. The benefitting-staff/researchers are Prof. Ikemefuna C. Uzochukwu, Dr. George Eleje, Prof. Ikechukwu Okoli, Dr. Emma Ezenwaji, and Dr. Uche Ekpunobi.
In a letter of commendation to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Charles Esimone, FAS, the NRF grantees assured the Vice-Chancellor of their support in ensuring the implementation of all facets of #Project200. They lauded the vision of the Vice-Chancellor in projecting Nnamdi Azikiwe University from the current position of about 4000 to be among the top 200 universities in the world.
They further reminded him that the five projects that have received the funding from the NRF are going to be his administration’s first major national outing from the research perspective. The researchers however solicited for support in areas of provision of laboratory/office spaces, furnishing of laboratory/office spaces as well as provision of project vehicles. The Vice-Chancellor in his response approved the provision of laboratory/office spaces and its furnishing.
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka has been charged to define what its Postgraduate training will be known for.
The call was made by the Provost, College of Postgraduate Studies, University of Ibadan and lead paper presenter, Professor Oyebaniji Babalola at the maiden UNIZIK Postgraduate Teachers Assembly held recently at the University Auditorium.
Prof. Babalola disclosed that Unibadan has earned the description of being the flagship of Postgraduate education in Nigeria owing to the gigantic steps taken by the University.
He outlined the steps which include, having a knowledge driven and upgrading training system; facilitating the training of its staff on pedagogy and leadership with experts drawn from international circle, stepping to the challenge of funds for research by giving scholarship awards to Postgraduate students of the University.
Others include evolving an effective supervising role by embracing a committee of supervisors model; tightened regulations to track milestones at different points in order to track the sources of our problems; raising the bar to an appreciable level by developing an anti-plagiarism software tool known as “Turn-it-in” to which every PhD thesis is subjected before submission for final oral examination is conducted.
As a panacea to re-inventing the Postgraduate School of the University, Professor Babalola supported partnership with industries to raise funds; sponsorship of a considerable number of the staff for capacity training and development conferences and workshops, sourcing of multidisciplinary research funds from philanthropists who are interested in funding interesting research ideas and stepping up further inter-university interaction where minds are rubbed to generate ideas for development.
In his keynote address, which centered on “Postgraduate training, a cornerstone in #project200” the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charles Esimone, FAS commended the Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies and her management team for organizing such a programme.
Prof. Esimone noted that it was of great interest to generate ideas and make recommendations on how to improve in the way things are done, stating the need for more efficient and effective use of researches both human and material.
To the Postgraduate Teachers, the Vice-Chancellor charged them to function more as a facilitator/mentor than in the mould of the traditional classroom teacher. He further charged them to guide the students in picking research topics, introduce them to research grant writing as well as assisting in the planning /conduct of the research and possible journal publication.
Earlier in her address, the Dean, UNIZIK School of Postgraduate Studies, Prof. Philomena Igbokwe said that the maiden Teachers Assembly was to afford the operation of the school the opportunity to review and discuss the Annual Report of the School as well as make the recommendations for its growth.
She affirmed the importance of the assembly with the theme “Repositioning our school in pursuance of #Project200 and Best Practices for Teaching and Supervision. The highlight of the Dean’s Annual Report were the Performance Review where she commented on organizing the first Orientation of Postgraduate Students in the history of the University, successful handling of 2019/2020 Postgraduate Admissions despite some hiccups. Others include SPGS board meetings held and the resolutions, Training conducted for Postgraduate teachers and the supervisors (the need for a dynamic expert system for PG supervisor profiling).
Prof. Igbokwe enjoined all to spare no effort in pursuing research, innovation and discovery that are beneficial to the public good.
