Why Kebbi varsity can’t fill its quota – VC
What legacy do you hope to leave behind?The important legacy you will leave here as an institution is a functional and progressive institution. You came when other people have done their best and, then, you add your best so that by the time you are leaving, it’ll be functioning efficiently. That is what I want […]
What legacy do you hope to leave behind?
The important legacy you will leave here as an institution is a functional and progressive institution. You came when other people have done their best and, then, you add your best so that by the time you are leaving, it’ll be functioning efficiently. That is what I want to leave as my legacy.
What are the steps taken to attract students to the academic opportunities in the university?
I think the most important thing to tell the students is that KSUSTA is a student-friendly institution and this is an institution that is building people with skills so that they can be on their own after graduation. The other advantage they have is that KSUSTA is a young institution and, therefore, you have a lot of attention and access to facilities. When you go to bigger universities, the challenges you might have are large number of students and limited attention, unlike in young institutions where you have more attention and access. So, students should look at all these and other advantages and come over and utilize them. The university is growing and with these opportunities may not be available. From inception to date, we have admitted a total of 2,694 students. The first year was 377, the second 486, the third 417 and then fourth and fifth was 403 and 401students respectively. In the current session, we issued admission letters to about 925 students and, so far, about 425 have registered.
How many faculties and departments do you have?
For now, the university has two faculties, the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Agriculture with 11 departments and 15 programmes. In the Faculty of Science, we have the Biological Science, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Statistics departments. We also have the Computer Science and Information Technology departments as well. These departments also have units in each of them. Necessary arrangements have been put in place for the establishment of Faculty of Engineering. All the structures needed have been put in place. Initially, we have planned to admit engineering students this year, but because of some reasons, we have postponed our plan till the 2014/2015 academic session. In addition to this, we are working towards making College of Agriculture, Zuru, College of Education, Argungu and the College of Preliminary Studies in Yauri to be our affiliate institutions for the purposes of awarding degrees. Now that we have full accreditation, we will soon approach the NUC on this matter.
What are the major challenges of the university?
There are quite a number of challenges. I have earlier told you that we have a quota approved by NUC and we are always unable to fill this quarter. We had to go out searching for students to admit rather than the other way round, where students struggle to get admitted in other institutions. Even after we sourced students, we also have the challenges of registration because this year only about 50 percent of those offered admission came forward for registration.
What is responsible for that?
Well, most students prefer to go to the federal universities than the state-owned and private institutions. So, this is one of the challenges we faced. We have places like Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto (UDUS) and Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria and others that we are competing with them. The other reason that contributes to that is that most students are not aware of this institution and that is why we are planning hard to reach out to the young ones at various secondary schools within our jurisdiction so that they can become aware of the university and become interested in it. The third is, obviously, our location, because people have the attitude of saying, ‘OK this is an institution located in a remote area’ and, for that reason, they would want to go to institutions that are located in the cities. Meanwhile, we are taking the steps to address this particular problem.
Of course, the other challenge is that of funds. No institution in this country escapes the problem of funding. The state government that built the university has tried. Most universities start from a temporary site, but we took off in the permanent site and the amount of infrastructure put on the ground to start this university is really commendable. I have seen so many institutions that came on board, at about the same time, that do not have the number and the kind of infrastructure we have.
What is the state of the university in terms of infrastructural development?
This is a state government-owned institution and there are also other state government projects that are ongoing. As you are aware, the TETFUND also assist public tertiary institutions in the country. Quite a number of the projects in the universities are also under the TETFUND interventions. Last year, they gave us a special high impact intervention of N3b to execute some projects. Also, TETFUND increased our normal intervention from over N300m to N646m. So, both the state government and TETEFUND are assisting KSUSTA. There is also promptness in funding the institution by the state government. Generally speaking, the government has increased the amount of money it used to give for the running of the university, especially vehicle and laboratory maintenance allowances. This is good because, as an institution, if you do not provide befitting laboratories for your students then, your expectation might not be realistic and can hardly be met. Another important challenge is staffing. We are understaffed in the sense that the right calibre of staff that you are looking for are not available. It is not a matter of number, because in terms of number, I can say we have enough staffers. But in terms of specialty, quality and qualification, I can say we have challenges. However, the university is thinking towards improving its sources of (internal generation of revenue) IGR. During our last council meeting, we sought for approval to commence commercial consultancy service so that we will generate more revenue. We have, so far, gotten the approval for advertisement and registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). We are also planning for the commencement of post graduate programmes, which will also generate revenue for the university.
But the post graduate programmes are mostly handled by senior lecturers that you are short of, how can you run the programmes?
Yes, we have shortage of senior academic staff in that area but, I have also told you, we have arrangement for those willing to come on sabbatical. We also have visiting lecturers and we are planning to bring others on contract. In the first place, NUC will not even allow us to start until they are satisfied that we have the requisite staff.
What is your take on the last strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and its effect on education?
The issue of ASUU strike and its impact on the education sector can be looked at in different perspectives. The bottom line is, generally, the intention which is to ensure improvement in education system. It is unfortunate that it took a long time before it was resolved. But the genesis of it is to ensure that the institutions are better funded. Obviously, our institutions are having some challenges.