Members of the Accreditation Teams from the National Universities Commission (NUC) are set to visit Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye for another round of accreditation of its programmes from March 28 to April 28, 2021. The Accreditation Teams, who are expected from different parts of the country, are billed to reassess 49 academic programmes of the University.
Towards ensuring a hitch-free exercise, the University Management, already has in place several measures, including the procurement of necessary equipment and provision of facilities, especially for various Departments that are due for the NUC accreditation. In recent days, preparations are being rounded off for the all-important exercise.
Of the 49 programmes that will undergo accreditation, four of them, Civil Engineering, Nursing, Music and Linguistics have only enjoyed resource verification assessment. The University currently has 74 undergraduate programmes. However, expectations are quite high on the part of the Management and staff that the University would scale the hurdle of this accreditation.
Speaking ahead of the visit by the NUC team, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ganiyu Olatunji Olatunde, said the University was doing everything possible to achieve 100 percent full accreditation status for its programmes. He described accreditation as significant, saying it offers ample opportunity to have quality assurance evaluation of the University programmes and avenue to gain independent insight into the core activities of the University from accredited organisation such as NUC through peer review activities.
Prof. Olatunde, who noted that the University has always strived to adhere to NUC approved admission quota and requirements for both UTME and Direct Entry, restated his commitment towards ensuring that OOU becomes a world-class University by all standards and an institution that competes favourably in a global knowledge economy.
He further enthused over the institution’s huge investment in information and communication technology and infrastructural and manpower development, stressing that the efforts had gone a long way to enhancing the capacity of the University.
The Vice-Chancellor commended the state government and the University Governing Council for their huge intervention and assistance which, he noted, have propelled the University.
Corroborating Prof. Olatunde, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Prof. Deji Agboola, said the University had long started preparation for the accreditation and was optimistic of a successful outcome.
According to him, the University is not taking the accreditation lightly and has therefore mobilised all resources and manpower to come out in flying colours. Prof. Agboola disclosed that all the needed equipment and facilities had been procured ahead of the NUC evaluation. “The University has 75 programmes, out of which 49 programmes are to be reassessed,” he stated.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor also shed light on how the Management had boosted the University’s Anatomy programme which was on interim accreditation before, saying the University had built a multi-purpose building at Sagamu to upscale the programme.
He further said, “Anatomy is on the reaccreditation because it was on the interim before. We are not given to fire brigade approach. In preparation towards this, the University built a multi-purpose building at Sagamu for Morbid Anatomy.
During the time for accreditation in 2018 for Anatomy, it was discovered that we needed a building for it and we showed them the plan but they insisted that the building should be ready for everybody to see. But now, the building is completed, the staff have moved into it and we are only at the level of making sure that the equipment procured for that Department and, by extension, all the programmes are moved in.”
Prof. Agboola appreciated the University Governing Council for the invaluable support given to the Management to undertake most of its giant strides.
He said, “This accreditation is more or less a quality assurance that the NUC wants to come and establish what we are doing. The University started preparation about two years ago, and that was why we can see those magic boards, those teaching aids that we talked about before. They are all in preparation to make sure our students get the best. What the NUC is also interested in is to come and see if we are doing the minimum that will make the students to get the best.
We need to thank the Council for the support. This exercise we are talking about cost very huge amount. Council has made the funds available to us to do this accreditation.
But the Vice-Chancellor asked us to strive above the minimum, take the BMAS and follow what is in the BMAS, that is what we have done.”
Some of the academic staff who spoke with OOU Bulletin crew were upbeat about the impending accreditation of the University programmes. They lauded the University Management for the level of support given to the Departments to adequately prepare them for the external scrutiny.
The Head of Chemical Sciences Department, Prof. Najeem Babarinde, while commenting on the level of preparedness, said all was set for the accreditation as necessary aspects at the Department had been improved upon by the University Management.
“I can say that we are ready, even if it’s going to be tomorrow,” Babarinde declared. “Everything that we need to do, we have done it.”
“Even today, we held a marathon meeting in which we concluded our preparation for NUC accreditation by looking at everything we needed to look at and crosschecking our check list to be sure everything was intact. As far as the Department is concerned, we are ready for NUC,” he added.
The HOD praised the University Management for investing lots of resources to put the Department and others in good shape ahead of the accreditation exercise. He noted that with the level of support received from the University, his Department would meet up with the expectations of the visiting NUC team.
His words: “The University has been trying but I know that they are financially challenged. If they were to have resources as expected, I think they would have done more. For instance, they are trying their best to give us support in terms of facilities.
We had postponements before and now we are hearing that it (accreditation) has been postponed again to April 8. But I’m sure that we are ready. In fact, the last set of printing that I needed to do was what I printed now. To the best of our ability, we have done all that we need to do.”
Speaking in the same vein, the Ag. Head of Mass Communication Department, Dr Dele Odunlami, pointed out that his Department was not lagging behind as most of its facilities had been upgraded prior to the latest accreditation efforts.
The HOD observed that though the coronavirus pandemic created some setbacks in the academic system, the institution had overcome COVID-19 challenges and succeeded in moving forward. He said his own Departmental staff are in high spirits for the accreditation because necessary equipment have been procured to keep the Department, its studios and other facilities in shape.
Dr Odunlami further said, “The foundation laid is such that would make accreditation a routine exercise, not things that we begin to do fire brigade. We would just need to update and upgrade facilities on ground in a normal way of performing as a University that has global standards.
So, you’d discover that long before now, facilities in each of the Departments across the Faculties and Colleges have been worked on. What we are just doing now is to put the icing on the cake as it were, for the accrediting agency to come and see that we are not lagging behind. So far, so good.
The COVID-19 break was actually what created a lull. If it were not for COVID-19, we would have just said whenever NUC is ready we are ready. But the COVID-19 break created some gaps and that’s why the University had to speed up its activities.
But beyond that, I think we are fully ready to welcome our visitors.
From the Department of Mass Communication, my expectation is high; high in the sense that all our studios are functional, with the exception of the PRAD (Public Relations and Advertising) studio and that’s what we are now addressing. Beyond that, we have a functional radio station which is digital. The TV studio is also there, some equipment have just been procured to keep up to date and the photo lab space is also being provided.
In terms of staff complements, what would have created a challenge has now become an opportunity because our University being a big institution is relying on some internal mechanisms to make up for the shortfall. We have the benefit of cognate personnel that are equally competent in some of the overlapping courses, and particularly, the electives too, naturally they are part of our staff. So, they are also complementing the existing staff.”
For Dr (Mrs) Olufunmilola Oladipo, the Head of Performing Arts Department, there is no cause for alarm since all basic provisions are available. She expressed confidence that Music, which is among the programmes slated for accreditation, would scale the hurdle going by preparations made by the University authorities.
It will be recalled that when the current administration of Prof. Olatunde came on board, the University accreditation status stood at 76 percent. However, due to purposeful leadership exemplified by great commitment to proper re-engineering and consolidation, the present Management was able to get more programmes accredited, thus bringing the accreditation status of the University to an impressive 97.2 percent.
