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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Governor Alex Otti of Abia has announced plans by his administration to revolutionize education in the state to be in tandem with the demands of the 21st Century.
Governor Otti made this known during the 3rd matriculation ceremony of the Nigerian British University (NBU), Asa, Abia State.
Represented by the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Otti said part of the efforts in this direction, apart from the renovation of schools in the state, was the massive recruitment of teachers.
He regretted that in the past, education in the state suffered underfunding and infrastructural decay, adding that it was for this reason his administration declared state of emergency in education to bridge the gap.
While commending the matriculants for making it the institution, he urged them to be studious as to come out in flying colours.
The Vice Chancellor NBU), Rev. Fr. (Professor) Innocent Ebere Uwah said the institution has entered into collaborations with foreign universities to ensure academic excellence, which won it a British Council grant.
Prof Uwah gave the names of the foreign institutions NBU is partnering with to include University of Lincoln, Leeds-Beckett University, and Keele University, all in the United Kingdom.
NBU, according to Prof Uwah is also in partnership with University of Johannesburg in South Africa and the Metropolitan University College of Medicine, Antigua and Barbuda, in the Caribbean, with links in the US and across Europe.
Uwah disclosed that while most of the partnerships have been sealed with signing a Memorandum of Understanding, some others are still on the way.
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“In this sense, NBU students have the option of transferring from NBU to any of our partner-universities overseas or vice versa in what we call 2+2 or 3+1 or 4+1 study arrangement.
“Some faculties that teach NBU students are drawn from these universities abroad to ensure global reach in the values they gain in their experience while here on campus.
“The partnership with Keele University has led to series of exchanges in terms of lectures and staff visits held between our two universities.
“Since it is going well, our Business School has engaged Keele University and Leeds-Becket university in driving joint certificate programmes with it where students from NBU Business School would have the opportunity of travelling to the UK to do a semester long summer study as part of the programme they are pursing here in NBU”, Prof Uwah explained.
The Vice Chancellor informed that the partnership with Keele University, made NBU to in 2024, win the prestigious Going Global Trans-National Education Exploratory Grant from the British Council.
“Our vision in this is anchored on a model of university education that breeds a robust interface between research and industry and by so doing, develops globally competitive students with employability skills through values that inspire self-motivation and professional development.”
Representatives of sister institutions who spoke on the occasion, commended NBU for her achievements.
They pledged for collaboration with NBU.
About 257 students drawn from the five Faculties of the University – Computing and Information Technology, Law, Management and Social Sciences, Engineering and Applied Sciences and College of Health Sciences, matriculated.
