Varsity don advocates stronger gown-town synergy
Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, AbdulGaniyu Ambali has said if graduates are being produced for the industry, efforts should be made to ensure the needful industrial impact on their training, saying that “it is in furtherance of this need that the training is considered a right step in the right direction”.
Ambali equally implored African Universities to do better for the achievement of the much-needed bridging between theory and practice, he said, “That is why at the University of Ilorin, our emphasis has always been on driving change through innovative programmes and IT deployment in the conduct of the University affairs”.
He said, “Apart from the Computer Appreciation Certificate that all students are encouraged to acquire, the University has a robust entrepreneurship programme aimed at producing graduates who can be self-sufficient.”
He urged the participants to not just pass through the training but allow the training to pass through them.
“You should not limit the gains to yourselves alone. Rather, you should share the skills and knowledge gained with your colleagues in various Departments and Faculties.” He noted.
Ambali further stressed that, the type of training received by African students has raised much concern by stakeholders on the relevance of such training pointing out that the mismatch has made some people to question the quality of education provided by the university system.
While expressing optimism on the workshop, which, he said, was in furtherance of the strategic academic partnership of the AAU and the University of Ilorin, the Vice-Chancellor stressed that the workshop will address the crucial subject of “University-Industry Linkages for African Universities” and brings further progress to the system.
Ambali, therefore acknowledged all stakeholders, sponsors, collaborators and the AAU’s support for and cooperation with the University of Ilorin, revealed that apart from granting the hosting rights of the 12th AAU General Conference, themed “Sustainable Development in Africa: The Role of Higher Education”, held between May 4 and 9, 2009, the AAU has been intervening on some occasions in the sponsorship of some University of Ilorin Ph.D students as well as promoting staff exchange.
In his opening address, the former President of AAU and immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Is-haq Oloyede, said that no nation can develop beyond the level of its education, stressing that universities must thus provide the intellectual environment for the development of ideas and nurturing of minds for societal growth.
Speaking on the theme “University-Industry Linkages: Building Enduring Synergy”, Prof. Oloyede, who was represented by Mudashir Lere Yusuf, said that university-industry linkages are complex, ranging from informal mechanisms (publication of research results, employee mobility or informal exchanges) to more formal contractual mechanisms involving longer-term relationships.
He said that AAU had established itself as a leader in ensuring university-industry linkages for societal growth and created imperatives for the promotion of university advancement in Africa through industrial linkages and external partnerships.
Oloyede disclosed, “In my opening remarks at the Kigali workshop, I did underscore among others that the aspirations of universities in Africa were being questioned as they are being accused of becoming increasingly irrelevant; if universities have to regain respect, collective rather than individual action through planning, periodic evaluation of progress and finding solutions to human problems must be taken; the era of Utopia “community service” is gone, thus universities can no longer confine themselves to libraries and laboratories and still expect to be recognised; and Universities do not have an exclusive monopoly of knowledge as industries have knowledge which universities should endeavour to access”.
The former AAU President said that the workshop was built on the previous ones aimed at enhancing the skills of university staff in the promotion of innovation and the management of change with the tripartite focus on Technology Uptake, Intellectual Property Rights and Entrepreneurship
He said that the workshop was well-timed and well-targeted at the staff in African universities, whom he described as the real agents for developing the employability skills of their graduates.
He added that the benefit of the partnership include access to manpower (well-trained graduates and knowledgeable Faculty/lecturers from the university); access to basic and applied research for evolving new products and processes; solutions to specific problems or professional expertise, not usually found in an individual firm; access to university facilities, not available in the company; and assistance in continuing education and training.
In her remarks, the Director, Central Research Laboratory (CRL), University of Ilorin, A. T. Oladiji, appreciated the presence of the delegates and promised to utilise all discussion towards achieving a better synergy among African universities.
Present at the three-day workshop were Principal Officers from the University of Ilorin and representatives from Bayero University, Kano; the University of Abuja; the University of Lagos; Thamson Reuters; the University of Calabar; the Federal University of Technology, Minna; Pentecost University, Ghana; the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin; and the Federal University, Dutse, among others.
SIKIRAT SHEHU