Funmi Lawrence
The Vice Chancellor of University of Abuja (UniAbuja), Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, said the institution would soon make study of foreign languages compulsory for all students of the University.
Na’Allah made this known at a media parley with Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria (ECAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said the move was part of a larger plan to ensure that UniAbuja’s students are globally competiytive.
“We want to empower this young people to become global citizen. We are introducing foreign languages and we making this compulsory for our students.
“We will soon start it , so that you cannot graduate from the university if you have not passed one foreign language.Alongside that, is the strategy for our students to study abroad and anywhere; Japan, India, among others, to see what the world looks like,” he said.
While saying that the University would soon embark on admission campaign to states that have very few number of students in the institution to ensure that every part of the country is fully represented in the school.
Na’Allah further revealed that 49 out of the 50 programmes being run by UniAbuja had been accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and other relevant bodies.
“We have 12 faculties in the University and 50 programmes. 49 of the programmes have been accredited by NUC and other bodies,” he said.
He added that the only programme yet to record the accreditation’s feat, Library and Information Science, was commenced in the institution in 2016 and is expected to pass the hurdle in December 2019.
Speaking further, the Vice Chancellor revealed that the University has entered into an agreement with a Chinese company to begin a programme in Railway Engineering.
“We are going to begin a programme on Railway Technology, not the colonial locomotive railway.
“We are partnering with a Chinese company. We are going to work with NUC in the design of the syllabus,” he said.
According to the Vice-Chancellor, UniAbuja will soon work out a Memorandum of Understanding with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) that will see to the development of programmes in Forensic Accounting and Forensic Science in collaboration with an India-based university to tackle the problem of crime in the country.
On his zero tolerance for indiscipline and sexual harassment, the VC said as the only public conventional university in the Federal Capital Territory the institution will not allow anybody to bring its image to disrepute, adding that any student or staff that engaged in any unwholesome activities will face the full wrath of the law.
Also speaking at the event, the Director of UniAbuja’s School of Advanced and Basic Remedial Studies, Prof. Abdul Buba, said the University only secured approval from Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB) a to begin the sales of forms on the programme from the 2019/2020 session and disassociated the University from the admission offered into the programme in 2018.
Buba said the University has already set up a committee to look into the sales of form on the JUPEC programme in 2018 without the University’s Senate approval, saying that the institution will take appropriate action on individuals that will be found wanting.
