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By Sola Rotimi
Kwara State University, KWASU, Malete, is set to graduate eighty-two students with First Class honours out of a total of seven thousand, six hundred and eighteen undergraduate at its 13th Convocation ceremony.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Shayke-Lukman Jimoh, who disclosed this during a news briefing held ahead of the university’s convocation activities, noted that the achievement reflects the institution’s rising academic standards and dedication to excellence.
“8,119 degrees will be awarded at the 13th Convocation Ceremony. 7618 earned a first degree while 501 bagged postgraduate degrees. There are 82 1st Class honours, 1986 2nd Class Uppers, 4195 2nd Class Lowers, and 1355 3rd class graduands. At the postgraduate level, there are 75 Ph.D.s and 426 Masters graduands,” he said.
Prof. Jimoh also emphasized one of the university’s most significant achievements being forty-four of its students securing grants of one hundred thousand dollars each to support innovative research projects across various fields.
“The culture of research and grant winning among our students is still active. During the 14th Undergraduate Research Day, 44 of our students received grants of N100,000 each to undertake various research projects. This is our strategic investment in promising ideas and future breakthroughs from our students,” he expantiated.
He described the development as a major boost for creativity, problem-solving, and global competitiveness among KWASU students.
The Vice Chancellor also spoke on various interventions through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to ensure completion of library annex
“The Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund has approved a 1 billion Naira Special Intervention project to complete the Library Annex. All 11 faculties and other stations of the institution have been equipped with an ultramodern, fully functional smart classroom to boost teaching across time and space.”
In the area of technological innovation, the Vice Chancellor revealed that the university’s engineering team has developed a prototype electric vehicle that has already attracted recognition from a foreign government.
He added that the team has successfully converted several units of the vehicle, which have been delivered to the Kwara State Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Technology, positioning the institution as a key contributor to Nigeria’s emerging green mobility sector.
To accommodate the expanding student population and improve learning conditions, Prof. Jimoh announced the commissioning of new hostel facilities and the near-completion of an ultramodern ICT Experience Center designed to strengthen digital learning, research, and innovation.
“You will recall that during the last convocation, the Governing Council and Management commissioned a 104-bed hostel built from IGR while recently a 600-bed hostel built through PPP was commissioned. This is one way to control the environment where our students reside. With the growing student population across the 3 campuses, we urgently seek donors and partners who can increase the capacity of the University to accommodate students on all our campuses,” he added.
Despite the progress made, the university management, however, expressed deep concern over the deplorable condition of the Shao–Malete Road, describing it as a major safety threat to students, staff, and motorists.
The Vice Chancellor called for urgent intervention, including the construction of a flyover at the busy crossing, to prevent accidents and ensure safer access to the campus.
Prof. Jimoh commended the Kwara State Government for its continuous support and urged increased collaboration with private sector partners to sustain KWASU’s rapid growth and achieving its long-term vision of becoming a fully developed multi-campus institution.
Highpoint of the event was the exhibition of various students’ projects across faculty and departments.
