OSUSTECH allays fears over new faculties

THE acting Vice Chancellor of Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH), Okitipupa, Prof. Adegoke Adegbite, has allayed fears that the two newly introduced faculties in the institution were not set for business.

The assurance became necessary after a section of the public alleged that the school’s management had duped prospective students by advertising courses in the affected faculties without offering admission for the 2015/2016 academic session.

Adegbite told The Guardian that when his administration came on board, he discovered that the number of students was grossly inadequate to maximally use available facilities and human resources in the school.

To expand the number of students, the vice chancellor noted that it became imperative to add two other faculties to the only existing one, the Faculty of Science, which offers 10 programmes including biology, mathematics, chemistry and physics.

The vice chancellor who confirmed that prospective students “applied to come into these newly introduced programmes,” of which the successful ones have been shortlisted, added that the brief delay experienced was consequent upon the ongoing process of approving the new academic programmes by the National Universities Commission (NUC) before the school can swing into action.

“We are still in the process of getting the NUC to give approval for programmes in the two new facilities in the university, and we have plans to admit students into the facilities when the courses are approved,” Adegbite said.

He, however, assured that, “in the mean time, pending the approval, students will still be temporarily admitted into the Faculty of Science and will be regularised into engineering and agriculture faculties after the approval.”

Similarly, registrar of the institution, Mr. Woleola Ekundayo, also assured parents and guardians of the prospective students to disregard rumours bandied about the two faculties.

Ekundayo lauded the visitor to the university, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, for appointing an insider that is conversant with the problems of the school, and poised to proffer logical solutions to them.

Describing the decision of the vice chancellor to introduce the new faculties within the first month of his administration as “taking the bulls by the horn,” Ekundayo expressed certainty that the approval from NUC would soon be granted.

He recalled how the accreditation team from the commission two years ago, wondered why the school did not run agricultural programmes, when agricultural facilities on campus exceeded that of many institutions that offer agriculture-based courses.