VICE CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE

‘ … a 21st Century University, properly called!’

My Vision, My Mission

By

Professor N. Oluwafemi Mimiko,
Vice Chancellor,
Adekunle Ajasin University,
Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria

It is my utmost delight to resume office today, January 4, 2010, as the fourth substantive Vice Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University (AAUA). I salute the founding fathers of the University and acknowledge the great work that my predecessors and all staff and Faculty had put in place these past 10 years that our University has existed in Akungba-Akoko. I also acknowledge that as a result of the circumstances of its birth, AAUA is confronted by some inherent contradictions that have distorted its capacity to deliver on its mandate – distortions that we, working together, must begin to sort out immediately.  

There is the virtual absence of an academic culture; acute shortage of infrastructures; a large Faculty population that can obviously admit of better and more rigorous training; staff that parade an unacceptable work ethic, determined to sustain the system as a virtual ‘bureaucratic dry rot’; perfunctory commitment to research; disinterestedness in the community service dimension of the University’s mandate; and limited institutional exposure for effective global networking.

In the labyrinth of these challenges, I envision an AAUA that is daintily laid out, gender-sensitive and with student intake at all times moderated by available facilities; an evident centre of excellence and best practices with core competence in undergraduate programmes; a bastion of academic culture and a developmental compass for our nation, oriented to attaining world-class status by the second decade of the 21st century. The AAUA of my dream is a developmental University, a catalyst for economic growth and an active player in the national policy formulation circuit; suited to producing globally-competitive graduates with a niche in entrepreneurial skills and initiatives.

I desire a highly cosmopolitan, ICT-driven University, with particular emphasis on virtual library as an effective complement to the conventional library, a well-integrated Internet and Intranet infrastructure for research, teaching and improved University governance; a University that is capable of internally mobilizing at least half of its recurrent expenditure by partnering with industry, local/foreign universities, international aid agencies, NGOs and its alumni, and that is committed to efficiency in fund usage, a great work ethic, professional handling of documents, expeditious processing of students’ results and overall integrity of operations.

The AAUA of my dream would run a heavily streamlined, quality-driven part-time programme and create issue-specific, detached academic Centres focused on gender, public policy, the environment, etc. - veritable platforms for networking global funding support and meeting communal needs, and an on-campus staff housing scheme to reinforce the drive for an academic culture.

The condition in which off-campus students live at AAUA is unacceptable. It is therefore imperative to accommodate all students, especially female students, in well-appointed, privately-owned but University-regulated hostels, and thereby provide a strong basis for moral renaissance, appropriate social networking and academic excellence on campus.

Attaining all of these would call for greater funding, including a highly dynamic internal fund generation framework; improved quality of instructions; expansion in research facilities; continuous re-training of the academic staff - in content and pedagogy - and a completely re-engineered curriculum that is in tandem with the aspiration of Ondo State for composite development; and above all, quality leadership.

Our focus is to make Adekunle Ajasin University the best in this country – in line with its stated Vision, ‘a first-class university in research, knowledge, character and service to humanity’. I am convinced that we have the resourcefulness to achieve this if we work together as a team. This is the initiative I have come here to drive. I ask that we dedicate ourselves to this noble and ennobling task.

Thank you.