Victor Ezeja
AdminVice-Chancellor of Covenant University, Prof Abiodun Adebayo says the university enjoys a high rating amongst the world’s higher institutions because it had long resolved to be doing even what world-class universities, such as Harvard and Oxford aren’t doing.
This was as he revealed that in a bid to secure the first ranking in Africa, Covenant University had to set the vision of 10:2022, meaning to be among the best 10 in the world by 2022.
The Vice-Chancellor however bemoaned the non-existence of impactful research in Nigerian universities, stressing that the country’s ivory towers must carry out more intensive research, alongside teaching and community service to emerge world-class universities.
Adebayo said this at a workshop held at the University of Benin with the theme: ‘University Ranking: Experiences of Covenant University,’ organized by the University of Benin’s Centre of Excellence in Reproductive Health Innovation (CERHI).
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While making his presentation at the event which took place on Thursday, he maintained that universities in Nigeria could not continue to do what they were used to and expect different results.
“Most universities in Nigeria concentrate on teaching and, perhaps, community service and have left out the area of research. Impactful research is almost non-existent in most of the universities,” Adebayo said.
He said that although the University of Benin was not doing badly, it would need to improve on its publications, particularly in Q1 and Q2 journals.
Apart from teaching, research, and impact, the Covenant University Vice-Chancellor identified citation, reputation, international outlook, and industry income as other metrics considered for university ranking across the world.
“You have to go beyond your best to accomplish some of those things. If we want to become world-class universities, beyond classroom teachings, we have to spend extra time to do the research. We must go beyond the kind of civil service work we do.
“The world is a global village and the rankings of universities have really come to stay. Whether or not you wish to be ranked, you will be ranked. It is high time, whether management, staff or students, we worked together to see that we place our universities on the world map, standing at par with other world universities,” he said.
In his remark, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin, Prof Lilian Salami, said that the lecture had brought out all the deficiencies as well as the things that the institution was doing right.
“I think the most important thing is that we all have determined that we can do it because he has simplified how we can get to that world-class level. At the University of Benin, we are also proud to be the University of the Universe, but we must match our words with our actions. So, our students and staff; we challenge you to step into the shoes of a digital generation.
“Some of our students are coming up with some innovations that we never thought would happen at the university. We are almost there and we can get there. What is left for us is to be determined, dedicated, and willing to learn. There is no one who is too old to learn,” she said.
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