About 25 out of the 593 graduating students of the Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji Arakeji in Osun State, have obtained first class Bachelor degrees.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Theophilus Olowokure, disclosed this while addressing journalists on Monday, ahead of the 9th convocation of the institution.
According to the VC, a total of 608 students of the institution would be conferred with various degrees and diplomas at the forthcoming ceremony.
Giving a breakdown of the degrees, the VC said, “A total of 593 graduated at the first degree level, among whom 25 have secured first class honours, 245 second class upper, 249 second class lower, 84 third class and one student obtained ordinary pass degree. Five postgraduate diplomas and 10 master degrees would also be conferred with honours.
“For the first degree, 37 of the graduating students come from the College of Agricultural Sciences, 84 from the College of Environmental Sciences, 140 from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, 181 from the College of Management Sciences and 114 from the College of Natural Sciences.
“It is significant that in this period the College of Law of the university is producing the first set of graduates. It is producing 37 graduates.”
Olowokure noted that 16 out of the 25 academic programmes run by the university have been given full accreditation, while five have interim accreditation of the National Universities Commission.
He also said many professional bodies in the country had accredited the professional programmes of the university, as he lamented the institution’s challenge of meeting its annual admission quota due to high fees and increase in number of private universities in the country.
“The high fees, which is necessitated by the need to cover high overhead costs, had the effect of making parents of prospective students and their wards shun private universities in preference for public universities that charge relatively low fees. Those students that fail to gain admission prefer to wait and seek admission into public universities the following year,” the VC lamented. (PUNCH)