The Lagos State University, LASU, has been selected as a Centre of Excellence for Innovative and Transformative STEM Education (CITSE) by the World Bank, among other 16 universities across Nigeria.
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, disclosed this on Friday at the institution’s first ever Long Service Award for Teaching and non-teaching staff who have served the university for 20 years and above.
A total of 543 staff members of the university received the award.
According to Fagbohun, the Africa Centre of Excellence (ACE) 3 project is aimed at supporting more policy harmonisation initiatives in higher education across the African region.
He said that LASU would get a minimum of 7 Million dollars as a Centre for the project, which is renewable after four years if performance and output are impressive output.
His words: “I will start my remark on a high note. I am proud to announce to you that LASU is now an African Centre of Excellence. We were chosen from about 154 Universities that applied for the centre, and after several rounds of assessment and screening, we were selected as the only state university in the round.
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“We are going to be attracting foreign students and foreign faculties, so, we cannot afford to go on strike or allow any crisis. It is not about me, it is about all of us, as LASU will become what we all make it to become.”
The VC urged the staff to collaborate with the management in managing the institution and sustaining it when the centre of excellence takes off.
While commending the recipients of the long service award and other staff of the institution for their contributions toward making the university great, he noted that: “the staff members are being celebrated and appreciated for their investment into the LASU project with the hope that they would be motivated to do more.”
In his own remarks, Chairman of the institution’s Governing Council, Prof. Adebayo Ninalowo, said LASU had made much progress in the past three years declaring that happiness was now the order of the day in the school.
He also said the award was to celebrate hard work and motivate staff to be more productive.
The other selected universities in the country and the Centres they got are: University of Port-Harcourt, Centre for Oilfield Chemicals Research (CEFOR); Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, ACE in ICT Driven Knowledge Park; ACE on Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and ACE for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Redeemer’s University, Ede.
Others include: ACE in Applied Informatics and Communication, Covenant University, Ota; ACE in Reproductive Health and Innovation, University of Benin; ACE on Technology Enhanced Learning (ACETEL), National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN); while Centre for Dryland Agriculture went to Bayero University, Kano.
Centre for Food Technology and Research (CEFTER) was given to Benue State University, Makurdi.
Centre for Public Health and Toxicological Research (PUTOR), went to University of Port Harcourt while ACE for Sustainable Power and Energy Development went to University of Nigeria Nsukka.
Federal University of Technology, Owerri, received ACE in Future Energies and Electrochemical Systems (ACE-FUELS); Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria got ACE on New Pedagogies in Engineering Education (ACENPEE); ACE for Drug Research, Herbal Medicine Development and Regulatory Science (ACEDRHMDRS), went University of Lagos while ACE for Mycotoxin and Food Safety was given to Federal University of Technology, Minna; and Centre for Population Health and Policy (ACEPHAP),to Bayero University, Kano.
The broad objective of ACE Impact is to increase quantity, quality and development of relevant postgraduate education in selected universities through regional specialisation.
The 12 countries participating in the ACE impact project are Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Niger, Djibouti, Guinea, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, and Gambia.
