"University of Ibadan, Oxford of Africa” – AAU Official

A key member of the leadership and site evaluation experts for the Association of African Universities (AAU)/World Bank-Funded Africa Centres of Excellence (ACE) Project, Professor Zvogbo Rungomo, the Vice-Chancellor, Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Zimbabwe has described the University of Ibadan as “Oxford of Africa.”

He made the remarks during a courtesy call by the experts on the Vice Chancellor, Professor Isaac Adewole in his office on Monday, 7 October, 2013.

Professor Rungomo, who is the Vice-Chancellor, Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Zimbabwe stated that the University of Ibadan is not an institution to be evaluated because of its stunning achievements. “I am here to offer myself for sound education in these Centres of Excellence, and I also urge you to leave opportunities for growing universities to be tutored under your great centres of excellence”, he said.

In his remarks the Vice Chancellor, Professor Adewole stated that the University would key into the agenda of the African Union to produce human resources in the areas of education. “Our goal is to train graduates not only for Nigeria but for the African continent”, the VC said.

He added that the University of Ibadan has the largest postgraduate enrollment in Africa and its goal is to train a large human power that will proffer solutions to problems in Africa through research.

Earlier, Prof. Jonathan Mba, the Director of Academic Planning and African Centre of Excellence Coordinator of the Association of African Universities (AAU) who is the team leader said the evaluation team’s goal is to investigate the leadership and management capacity of the University in its proposed Centres of Excellence.

According to him, “we are here to undertake a tour of your institution with special focus on the facilities and personnel available for the proposed Centres of Excellence.”

The University had proposed for the consideration of AAU, the establishments of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), Centre for Advanced Agricultural Training and Translation Research and the Centre for Analysis, Modelling, Simulation and Computation (CAMSIC).

The Centres of Excellence are being facilitated by the University of Ibadan Research Foundation (UIRF) under the leadership of Prof. Ayoade Oduola in a statement by the University’s Director of Public Communication, Mr. Olatunji.