FOUNDER and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, has berated the present arrangement whereby admission quota in Nigerian Universities is largely based on how long the individual universities have been in existence.
Instead of basing admission quota on the age of a university, Babalola, a seasoned University administrator argued that admission quota should be based on the quantum of equipment and human capital each university is able to put in place.
Speaking at a reception in honour of the Chairman of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, Prof. Abba Has- san, over the weekend, Babalola said “Students admission quota should not be a reward for old age but a reward for quality equipment, infrastructure and human capital put in place by individual universities”.
He added: “Everywhere in the world, admission quota is not a reward for the number of years a university has been in existence. Rather it is a consideration for the carrying capacity of such a university. The carrying capacity of a university is the highest number of learners (students) that a particular institution will be able to effectively manage for qualitative education, considering the human resources at its disposal.
“This suggests that the admission of students at this level is in accordance with the facilities available and human resources on ground in any particular university. These facilities comprise of good staff/student ratio, accommodation, required number of Lecture rooms, libraries stocked with the appropriate books, renowned national and international journals among others while the human re- source include quality and qualified teaching and non- teaching staff in the right number and mix”.
He recalled that in Nigeria, the issue of admission quota has basically been based on the age of institutions. But at a point, this trend was reversed by the immediate past executive secretary of NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, who appreciated the place and import of carrying capacity because he found it to be grossly discouraging.
Following the achievements of ABUAD Law graduates at the 2018 Bar examination where all the 165 graduates presented by ABUAD scored 100% pass with the overall best student coming from the institution, wining 24 out of the 36 available prizes, its admission quota has since been increased to 300.
Drawing from the ex- ample of ABUAD College of Law and the massive investment therein, Babalola invited the MDCN boss to borrow a leaf from the NUC and increase the admission quota for ABUAD’s MBBS programme from the present level of 120.
Earlier, Hassan who said Babalola looked younger in real life than he looks on TV commended his host for the superlative work he has single-handedly been doing since the establishment of ABUAD nine years ago.
Impressed by infrastructural development of the university within its short history of existence, Has- san said: “Sir, you are do- ing so much for the country for which I thank you. All we need in this country to- day is a minimum of four universities like yours and things will change for the better”.