By Oladele Ogunsola, Ibadan
The need for the expansion of the existing universities and creating more to meet the ever increasing need of university education has been emphasized by the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of the country’s First Technical University (Tech-U), Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof. Ayobami Salami, when he disclosed that only forty percent (40%) of qualified university admission seeking candidates usually get admitted.
Aside the problem of space identified by the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) trained scholar and administrator, he also disclosed that the unemployability of most of the graduates being produced by the universities remain another source of worry.
While the problem of space could not be tackled at once, the Tech-U VC said, “it is not enough to complain that majority of Nigerian university graduates are unemployable, but pragmatic steps should be taken to address the employability gaps through entrepreneurial orientation of the average Nigerian youth”.
He said it was in a bid to address this problem of graduate unemployability that the Technical University (Tech-U) was given birth to, stressing that the impact of the university would be felt in the country within a very short time.
The VC spoke while fielding questions from journalists at the opening session of the 2018 Annual Press Week of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council, held at Mokola, Ibadan, Secretariat of the union.
He explained that the few candidates that are able to gain admission and pass out from the system have been found unemployable for lack of entrepreneurial attitudes, as well as employability-related hard and soft skills.
Describing the problem of youth unemployment as multi-faceted, Prof. Salami noted that Tech-U was therefore established to expand access to university education and more importantly to address the employability gaps through entrepreneurial orientation of the average Nigerian youth.
He used the occasion to lay to rest the ownership question about whether the university is owned by the government or some private individuals, explaining that it is an institution established by the government of Oyo State but to be run as a private institution.
Unlike other public institutions which receive subvention from their owner governments, the VC maintained that “the Tech-U is self-financing and this is done through the tuition fees being charged and contributions from some private individuals, who share and believe in the bold initiative of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the institution’s Visitor”.
Equally, he allayed the fears that only the children of rich people would have access to the university because of the tuition fees that may be out of the reach of ordinary Nigerians, saying, “the Tech-U has established a basket of schorlaship options currently worth over a billion naira”.
The endowment, he said came from both the public and private sectors to support indigent but brilliant students unable to afford the sort of qualitative education offered by the university.
Highlighting the distinctive features of the university and which make it some steps ahead of the conventional universities, he said such include mainstreaming of technical, vocational and entrepreneurship education.
According to him, “as part of the uniqueness of Tech-U in the entire Nigerian university system, the incorporation of entreprenehrship into the university curriculum is not just as an elective, rather, it is mandatory for every Tech-U student to acquire nationally-recognised certification in vocations and business skills in at least two relevant vocations of their choice”.
Prof. Salami also said another feature that makes their students unique is the compulsion by the university for all its students to be bilingual, saying, “all students are required to go through French Language immersion programme. The management is on the verge of adding Chinese and Spanish as part of the languages”.
This, he said was part of the deliberate effort to make the university graduates relevant and have the capacity to take advantage of every opportunity for the greater good of the society.
