Academic Excellence Goes Beyond Class Work—First Class Graduate

RECENTLY, Rising Stars carried out a survey on the quality of input materials and output products of Nigerian universities and it was discovered that the association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities has committed itself to ensuring that quality control assurance are promoted among the private and public universities in Nigeria.
According to the Secretary General of the association, Professor Michael Faborode, “the association is consolidating efforts to standardise university education in Nigeria, such that both public and private institutions run parallel programmes also create a forum for university operators to deliberate on the challenges facing universities in the country and proffer solutions together, such that no university in Nigeria will be inferiors to one another.”
During the last convocation of the Osun State University, Osogbo, one of the best graduates in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Opeyemi Oyedeji admitted that Nigerian universities needed to step up to meet world class standard. According to him, he had compared notes with other universities in the country, and his observation was that Nigerian universities are still theory-based and much has not been done on practical aspect. In his opinion, “this explains our backwardness in the aspect of technological development in Nigeria and suggests that if the university managers and the university education policy makers, could ensure the provision of research and teaching equipment for engineering courses, it would go a long way to boost technological development in Nigeria,’’ he stated.
When asked how he made First Class in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Opeyemi stated that, he was just an average student while in secondary school, because all his results were on credit level; no distinction. But the university exposed him to a more conducive learning and study environment where he was able to improve on his academic pursuit and also discovered that academic success required extra studies and research.
“In my 100 level I was on first class grade, but in my 200 and 300 levels, I had some set- back, probably because of my relaxation, based on complacency. However, in my 400 and 500 levels I was able to make up for the loss I had in my 200 level.”
“I make bold to say that anybody going for Engineering course in the university must be very good in Mathematics because, it involves a lot of calculations. But as God would have it, I finished with 4.50 (CGPA). This is a record that God has granted me to make as a pioneer first class graduate in my department,” he said.
Opeyemi observed that government at all levels must invest more in education because the youth are the future of any country and the kind of education they receive will determine the growth of the country.
He also advised the incoming students or undergraduates not to rely on class work alone, but to also make extra effort to surf the internet for more materials because the internet has made academic excellence a more attainable goal which goes beyond what is being taught in the class.
Opeyemi chose electrical/electronic engineering because of his passion for engineering work, in line with his dream of building a robot for the country.
He attributed his success to his parents who did their best to fund his education just as he is currently praying for sponsorship or scholarship for his postgraduate course abroad.
Source Tribune News