Home Education Tech-U Staff Tasked By Former UI Registrar, Moji Ladipo

Tech-U Staff Tasked By Former UI Registrar, Moji Ladipo

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Vice-Chancellor, Tech-U, Professor Ayobami Salami presenting a certificate to the Registrar, Mr. A.A Oladeji as Mr. Ayo Ogunruku looks on...
Vice-Chancellor, Tech-U, Professor Ayobami Salami presenting a certificate to the Registrar, Mr. A.A Oladeji as Mr. Ayo Ogunruku looks on...

Chief Moji Ladipo, a former Registrar of the University of Ibadan, has averred that mediocrity, under-funding and infrastructural deficit are major challenges affecting universities in Nigeria.

She made this known last Thursday at The Technical University, Ibadan, during a one-day capacity building workshop for the university’s pioneer staff.

In her presentation, Managing Universities and Their Culture and Unique Practices, Chief Ladipo, the first female Registrar of the University of Ibadan and first female Chairman of the Committee of Registrars of Nigerian Universities (CORNU) observed that “people are no longer committed to what they are paid to do”. She also mentioned inefficient administration and lack of good governance as well as unwholesome institutional culture as other challenges universities have to cope with.

“There is a head manager, but we must know that we are all managers at our different levels”, Chief Ladipo said. Speaking further, she said “good governance is a sine qua non for every university’s survival. Good governance is about being consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, equitable, efficient, effective and inclusive.”

Comparing the university system of old and what presently obtains, Chief Ladipo said “then, universities had manageable number of students, all admitted on merit. The students were committed to reading, ‘rithmetic and writing”. She however posited that now, “large students and staff population, ICT and New Media and economic recession are factors that affect universities”.

She also pointed out that the top 10 universities in the world are distinguished because they have good governors, strategic plans, sizeable budgets that are driven by sources of income which include government grants for operational spending, students’ fees, researches for public organizations as well as earnings from endowments, gifts and benefactors. Such universities also boast of a high concentration of talented teachers, researchers and students of the highest calibers.

She went on to advise that management should be made “free from unnecessary bureaucracies and external interference”.

For effective running of The Technical University, Ibadan, Chief Ladipo said “this university must put in place multiple sources of funding and manage them. Mediocrity breeds instability which can be expensive in terms of stability and the university’s image”, she therefore advised that staff and students to be recruited must be top grade.

The capacity-building workshop, held at the Senate chambers of the University also had Mr. Ayo Ogunruku, a former Registrar of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Dr. Omojola Awosusi, Engr. Biodun Fijabi and Barrister P.O Fasuhan as resource persons.

In his keynote address, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ayobami Salami described training as something that should be done on a regular basis. Explaining why the workshop was necessary, he said “you don’t blame people for what they don’t know”. He also stated that “people need to have a guide and remember that those coming behind will copy what they meet on ground”.

Speaking further, the Vice-Chancellor explained that The Technical University, which is a public university with private sector orientation, is set to become the first self-sustaining university in Nigeria. He stated that the university was established not to depend on handout from government.

Mr. Ogunruku, a Higher Education Management Consultant, disclosed that the workshop’s aim was to build competences for 21st Century service delivery. “You need to unlearn what you have learnt and relearn before you can learn what will propel Tech-U and make it a university of the 21st century”.

Ogunruku made it known that to build a global university brand, attitudes need to change.  He also stated that universities stay great when they stay committed to excellence and stay committed to the authority of ideas.

In his paper, titled Purpose and Objectives of Universities and Their Culture of Unique Practices, he noted that because the university is a permanent organization that has certain modus operandi that guide its character; it needs a code of behavior that should give it character that is standing in the place of knowledge.

He also said that universities are places of culture and ethics and are governed by laws and statutes. “Universities have non-negotiable standards of operation with the ultimate aim of producing graduates found worthy in learning and character”, he said.

On what makes a world class university, Ogunruku, the Chief Consultant of Haven Lift Global Concept mentioned character, abundant resources that facilitate a rich learning environment and good governance, which he said involves “following the rule of law and maintenance of discipline”.

He rounded off with a warning to the staff, “note that the culture of excellence can only be built by excellent individuals. Your manner of language and your civility will be tested.” To make things work, academic staff must do what they are supposed to do and administrative staffs too have to do what they are supposed to do”.

Dr. Omojola Awosusi, a former CORNU Chairman, presented a paper on Communication Skills in University and Management while Barrister Omoniyi Fasuhan, Director of Legal Services, Federal University of Technology, Akure, presented a paper on University Laws, Statutes and The Management of Universities in Nigeria in the 21st Century. Engineer Biodun Fijabi delivered a paper on Leadership Skills For University Administrators.

Packaged by Omotoyosi Jesuleye

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