A total of 159 people graduated Sunday with doctoral certificates in various disciplines during the 20th undergraduate and 11th graduate convocation ceremony of Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State.
It is the largest number of doctoral students produced by the institution in its 23 years of existence.
The rector of the university, Ademola Tayo, in her speech, pointed out that 2,077 undergraduate students will receive their diplomas and degrees while 471 will graduate from graduate school, making a total of 2,548.
He added that the university is registering the highest number of postgraduate graduates, with 159 doctorates.
The vice-chancellor noted that among the doctoral graduates are two senior lawyers from Nigeria, a brigadier general serving in the military, members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Institute of Taxation and the Institute’s board of trustees.
He urged students to present themselves “to the world at large as precious people who are trying to rule the world and bring about positive change in this unpredictable and conflict-ridden world.”
Behind the scheduled academic calendar
Speaking further, the Vice Chancellor acknowledged that the convocation was a little behind the regular academic calendar established since 1999. He said that it was already a culture at the university to hold the convocation ceremony every first Sunday in June.
He attributed the “overwhelming series of challenges” to the COVID-19 pandemic and a long period of lockdown, which he said later inspired the establishment of virtual learning systems.
“Babcock University pioneered virtual learning and virtual examination in Nigeria to overcome excessive academic disruption and the danger of keeping dynamic and restless young men and women idle at home,” he said.
He also assured that the normal calendar will be restabilized in the academic session of 2023.
“I want to say that Babcock University belongs to a network of more than 118 universities and colleges on all continents of the world. And we benchmark our program against global best practices,” he added.
He added that Babcock University is the second private university approved to operate the Center for Open and Distance Learning.