A total of 238 students will bag First Class degrees as the University of Lagos (UNILAG) graduates 12,217 students at its 52nd convocation next week.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, told journalists in Lagos that the graduation would kick off on Monday with a convocation lecture to be delivered by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The lecture titled:”Building Back Better; Creating a New Framework for Tertiary Education in Nigeria in the 21st Century”, would be chaired by Justice Amina Adamu Augie of the Supreme Court.
Ogundipe added that of the overall 12,217 graduating students, 2,454 would be graduating in the Second-Class Upper Division, while 3,459 others would graduate in the Second-Class Lower Division.
“A total of 12,217 graduating students will receive their degrees, diplomas and certificates in various disciplines. Out of this number, 7,799 will receive first degrees or diplomas while 4,418 will receive postgraduate degrees.
“We also have 1,183 students graduating in the third class division, while 85 students made the Pass degree.
“At this convocation, a total of 201 graduating students obtained degrees that are not classified. The pre-degree programmes are graduating a total of 143 Diplomas comprising 68 in Human Kinetics and Health Education (HKHE) and 75 in Social Development and Administration (SDA),” he stated.
Ogundipe said Elizabeth Ekeoseye of Zoology Department emerged overall best graduating undergraduate student with Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.95, while Joy Umudu won overall best Ph.D. Thesis award in Pure Mathematics.
A total of 217 students would also be receiving certificates in Entrepreneurship, from the Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre of the institution.
He said the three-day event would be held in both the morning and afternoon sessions.
“On Monday, January 17, there will be the opening of exhibition at the Senate House Car Park and this will be followed with the convocation lecture.
“Tuesday, January 18, will feature graduating students of all departments in the Faculties of Education and Social Sciences for the morning session. Those from the Faculties of Arts, Environmental Sciences and Science will be held in the afternoon.
“On Wednesday, January 19, the ceremony for graduating students of the Faculties of Management Sciences, Engineering and Law will commence.
“For the afternoon session, we will have ceremony for graduating students of Faculties of Basic Medical Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Dental Sciences, Pharmacy, and the Distance Learning Institute,” he said.
The vice chancellor said the ceremony would continue on January 20, for postgraduate students for the award of Diplomas, Masters, PhD degrees and best Ph.D. Award of the School of postgraduate Studies.
Ogundipe noted that from 2018 till date, UNILAG had attracted a total of 267 research grants worth over N17 billion.
“Research have become a major currency for all our academic staff and this was ably demonstrated with our submissions to different international organisations and to the TETfund National Research Fund.
“We believe that this steady growth in research activities is precipitated by the approaches we are adopting to encourage our staff to showcase their talents,” he stated.
