As the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA plans to hold its 33rd convocation ceremony, no fewer than 195 students of the institution, have emerged as first-class graduates among the 3,491 students set to graduate from the institution.
Speaking with newsmen on Friday about the forthcoming convocation ceremony, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Adenike Oladiji disclosed that among the graduands, 2,295 are male, while 1,196 are female.
Giving the breakdown of the class of the graduating students, the don disclosed that “out of the total number, 195 students have first class, 1,510 have second class honours (upper division), 1,515 students finished with second class honours (lower division), 254 have third class and two students finished with pass.”
According to the VC, the university would also confer postgraduate diploma, masters and doctoral degrees on 1,806 postgraduate students.
She said out of the number, 490 would be awarded Postgraduate Diploma, 61 Postgraduate Diploma in Management, 86 Master of Business Administration, 940 Masters Degree while 229 would bag a doctorate degree.
The vice chancellor announced a student of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Miss Oluwanifemi Olajuyigbe, as the best graduating student with a cumulative grade point average of 4.93.
As parts of efforts to have a direct impact on the society, Oladiji stated that the university would introduce new academic programmes upon the approval of the National University Commission, emphasising that the gown had now been taken to society to impact viable knowledge on the citizenry for a better society.
The vice chancellor pointed out that FUTA products were globally recognised, while efforts were on to catch up with the trending artificial intelligence technology. She called on professional bodies to partner with the varsity as it was ready to introduce a school of professional development, offering programmes in various fields of management.
“FUTA aspires to be a world-class university of technology and centre of excellence in training, research, and service delivery. Currently, we have active collaborations with universities in the USA, UK, Germany, China, Brazil, India, and Ghana. The details are in FUTA’s Giant Strides XI.
“Visiting professorship and scholar positions for academics from the diaspora have been instituted to enrich the quality of training and research in the university. Currently, 19 scholars have been engaged. They are from South Africa (6), Namibia (1), USA (1), UK (4) Canada (2), Germany (1), Malaysia (1) and Australia (2) and New Zealand (1), the don hinted.