Why graduates of Technical University, Ibadan will never be jobless – VC

The Vice Chancellor of The Technical University, Ibadan, Ayobami Salami, on Tuesday said students of the institution will never be jobless upon graduation.

Mr. Salami, a professor, said no graduate of the institution will go about roaming the street in search of jobs because they would have been adequately equipped to be creative and entrepreneurial.

The vice chancellor made this known in his maiden press conference held at the University campus along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Ibadan, Oyo state. The programme was put together as parts of activities heralding the take-off of full academic activities at the university.

The vice chancellor also disclosed that Tech-U’s pioneer students will arrive the university campus on January 7, 2018.

Mr. Salami said the technical university, which he described as the first of its kind in Nigeria, has a vision to address employability gaps in Nigeria through entrepreneurial orientation of the students.

“It is either they are so good that the industries hire them straight away, or they simply establish their own start-ups,” he said.

He attributed the unemployment challenge in the country to lack of entrepreneurial orientation of several academic programmes in Nigerian universities.

He explained that the university has put innovative courses like Cybersecurity in place to train students towards addressing new societal challenges.

Mr. Salami explained further that the university will take off with focus on vocational skills acquisition, adding that the lecturers will comprise 40 per cent skilled artisans and 60 per cent conventional lecturers.

On the high tuition fee charged by the University, the vice chancellor explained that the university, although owned by the Oyo State government, aims to operate with private sector orientation.

He also argued that at N400,000 per session, the fee is not outrageous because government support and funding has an exit plan.

“I guarantee the Nigerian public that Tech-U is a university where parents and investors will get value for the money spent there,” he explained.

“At Tech-U, we did our research across public and private universities before we arrived at the tuition and other charges we have prepared. There are many private universities whose tuition and other charges are twice higher than ours. Besides, STEM programmes are cost-intensive.”

He also disclosed that three students each across the 33 local governments in Oyo State have been offered admission on scholarship and would be part of the pioneer students billed to resume in January.