…As VC makes case for TETFund support for private varsities
By Adeyinka Adeniran
No fewer than 96 students who have completed their 3-4 years of academic training will be graduating from Dominion University, Ibadan at the maiden convocation ceremony of the University.
Out of the figure, a total of 22 (22.9%) students graduated in the first class division; 53 (55.2%) made second class upper division and 21 (21.9%) made second class lower division.
This is as the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Abel Olorunnisola warns that excluding private varsities from benefiting from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) aid may be counter productive for the country.
The VC spoke during a press conference to herald the convocation ceremony of the four years old University.
The event which starts today (Wednesday, October 18th) with a Convocation service, will be followed by a Convocation Lecture to be delivered by Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo on Thursday while the conferment of first degree and award of prizes to the maiden set comes up on Friday, October 20th.
Giving details of the convocation ceremony, the VC said the graduating students are from the 11 academic programmes domiciled in the Faculties of Arts, Socialist and Management Sciences; and Computing and Applied Sciences.
Additionally, he said ten (45.5%) of the 22 first class graduands are from the Faculty of Arts, Social and Management Sciences while 12 (54.5%) graduated from the faculty of Computing and Applied Sciences.
Apparently reacting to insinuations that the private varsities should not be included as beneficiaries of the TETFund financial support, the VC said the fund is meant to support manpower production for the country which is what private varsities are also into.
He added that, although, the fund been enjoyed is generated from the private sector, the mindset that people set up private varsities to make money is not only untrue but must be discarded.
“The TETFund came up as a result of strike in 1992. The law that set up TETFund did not envision the barrage of private universities we have now.
“The fund from the TETFund is a tax from the private sector. All universities are producing manpower for the country.
“It may not be on equal measure, but excluding them totally is not good. The mentality out there that private varsities are set up to make money. It is not true and far from it. Private universities are not for money making.
“The goal is not to make money but to provide for manpower need of the country. For 20 years some of the private varsities may not make anything but continuous investments in the system”, he added.
Speaking earlier, the Chancellor, Bishop Taiwo Adelakun recalled that the instituion received its operating licence as a private University on February 5th, 2019 and commenced academic activities in October 2019 with 113 students.
“Four months into our existence, Covid-19 struck with an academic disruption for the rest of the season. Thank God for the robust ICT policy already in place to run the institution online, the university has succeeded in ru nine four uninterrupted academic sessions and just at the beginning of the fifth session”
He added that the uniqueness of the graduating students is about their spiritual life, adding that the school had groomed them both physically, morally and spiritually.
“In the last four years, we have taken them through spiritual tutelage. We have developed them spiritually. We have injected into them the virtue of godliness, holiness and righteousness, these are some of the challenges with our society today.
“Many people are out there pursuing selfishness and greed. We are optimistic that within a short time they will begin to manifest their virtues on the field and in the workplace”, Bishop Adelakun added.
