As Universities across the countries finetunes processes to admit students for the 2017/2018 academic year after intensive screening, the University of Agriculture (FUTA), Akure, in Ondo State, said it would only admit 3,500 out of the 13,500 candidates that sat for the Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination in the institution.
The school reiterated the fact that its admission for the 2017/2018 academic session would be strictly based on merit in view of the limited admission space available.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Chairman, University Admissions Committee, Prof. Olatunde Arayela, disclosed this during the institution’s Post-UTME Screening Exercise.
He said, “A total number of 13,500 candidates registered for the screening while the university Senate has decided that it will admit only 3,500 candidates for the academic session.”
He lauded the leadership of the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Prof Joseph Fuwape, for putting measures in place to ensure an efficient and hitch-free screening exercise.
Under the school admission procedure each programme was allocated its own cut-off mark, which was determined by its carrying capacity and only those that would meet the cut-off point were to be offered admission, according to the school.
Arayela noted that during the policy meeting organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) involving all heads of tertiary institutions in Nigeria and their registrars, a Central Admission Process System (CAPS) was introduced to ensure that only qualified candidates were given admission based on merit.He maintained that FUTA adhered strictly to the CAPS paradigm.
Speaking on the National Universities Commission’s decision to stop admission into management courses for Federal Universities of Technology and Agriculture in Nigeria, he explained that the affected students had been duly notified about the development while a committee has been set up by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors to look into the issue.
The University of Akure has been in the positive news in recent times after the controversy that engulfed the institution after the Bursar was sacked over alleged corruption issues.
It could be recalled that the University recently scored a milestone in satellite technology when it launched CubeSat, a satellite code named NigeriaEdusat-1 into space from the Kennedy Space in Florida, United States.
The Nigerian CubeSat of FUTA is a component of the Birds 1 satellite comprising four other CubeSat belonging to Japan, Ghana, Mongolia and Bangladesh.
Commenting on the launch the Vide-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Fuwape said the successful launch of FUTA satellite the first satellite by a University in Nigeria has not only shown the capabilities of Nigerian scientists but would propel FUTA to build on that success to concretize its leading position in researches and scientific breakthroughs.
The Head, Media and Protocol Unit of the University, Adegbenro Adebanjo, explained that the Nigerian CubeSat was designed, built and owned by the Federal University of Technology, Akure, in collaboration with the National Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria and the Kyushu Institute of Technology Japan.
Adebanjo said the launch of the satellite was meant to enhance human and capacity building among staff and students and make satellite technology popular among them for the purpose of research, resources and environmental management as well as sustainable socio-economic development of the nation.
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The satellite technology, according to school’s spokesman, is expected to have a spillover effects on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education, which is the desired essential tool for a country’s industrial development.
The satellite project has Mr. Ibukun Adebolu of the Institution’s Department of Engineering as the representative of Nigeria.
In furtherance of the Institutions strives for research, a contingent of its students went to Florida University of Agricultural and Mechanical (FUMA), United States of America for the exchange programme between the two schools.
The Next Edition gathered that the University had in 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Florida University, for the purpose of research, collaboration and exchange programme involving the selection of undergraduates with Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of not less than 3.0 from relevant department to complete their fifth year of undergraduate at FUMA, USA.
On completion, the students are provided with the window of opportunity to study for their Master’s programme at the American University.
