Vice-Chancellor: COVID-19 will not truncate university academic calendar

Prof. Iche Ukpai-Kalu, Vice-Chancellor, Evangel University, Akaeze, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, has said that students of the institution would graduate on record time in spite of COVID-19 pandemic.
Ukpai-Kalu, represented by Dr Tiben Nwali, the institution’s Director of Public Affairs, spoke at a news briefing on Tuesday in Ebonyi.
According to the vice chancellor, the staff members and students are working in synergy toward ensuring that the academic calendar of the university is not truncated by the current global challenge.
Ukpai-Kalu noted that the university had an assemblage of some of the best brains in the academic world and that its lecturers were capable of handling all the courses.
“The institution’s online platforms for teaching and learning are very effective and parade the best brains in academic world.
“The university management under the vice chancellor is doing its best to motivate workers through regular salary payment, in spite of lean revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have conducted mid-semester quiz online; we are ready to start exams online as soon as possible.
“But within the week, every lecturer is expected to have conducted online quiz for their students.
“So, we have a very effective online teaching and learning platform for our students. That they are at home doesn’t mean they are losing anything.
“That’s why the management insists that the students will graduate on record time because we are untilising our time judiciously,” he said.
Ukpai-Kalu reiterated the commitment of the institution in providing qualitative teaching and learning to students of the university adding that the COVID-19 pandemic would not affect the school’s academic calendar.
“We have not been affected by the lockdown arising from the coronavirus pandemic; we are effectively rendering academic services to our students online.
“We, therefore, wish to use this opportunity to call on parents and guardians of students of the university to pay their school fees because they are having lectures everyday in the comfort of their rooms.
“The management has been able to work hard to ensure that there is constant payment of salaries for every member of staff of the university,” Ukpai-Kalu said.
He added that the school had released admission cut-off mark for prospective students for the 2020/2021 academic session into various departments.