… 10,448 degrees awarded in two decades – Vice-Chancellor

… Says 83 of 1,043 graduands will bag First Class at 17th convocation

Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, has disclosed that it has awarded 10,448 undergraduate degrees in its 20 years of existence, even as it prepares to present 1,043 graduands, including 83 First Class recipients and 22 PhDs at its 17th convocation for the 2025/2026 session.

The Vice-Chancellor of the Institution, Prof. Olasebikan Fakolujo, revealed this during a press briefing to herald the university’s 20th anniversary and 17th convocation.

According to Fakolujo, who was flanked by top principal officials, the university’s pioneer matriculating class of 246 students in February 2007 has grown into an alumni community of thousands making waves across business, research, academia, public service, technology, finance, the professions and the creative economy.

He emphasised that at this year’s convocation, 897 first-degree and 146 postgraduate students will graduate with 83 bagging First Class Honours, 429 Second Class Honours (Upper Division), 301 Second Class Honours (Lower Division), 74 Third Class Honours, and 10 Pass degrees.

While stating that the postgraduate cohort comprised 22 PhDs, 94 academic master’s degrees, 27 MBAs, and three postgraduate diplomas, Misturah Elizabeth Oseni, from the Department of Food Science and Technology, emerged as the best graduating student for the 2025/2026 session with a CGPA of 4.96.

Prof. Fakolujo identified institution building, development of members of staff and entrepreneurial education as the university’s defining contributions in the last two decades of existence.

“Of the 10,448 undergraduate degrees awarded over two decades, 426 graduated with First Class Honours, 3,730 with Second Class Honours (Upper Division), 4,928 with Second Class Honours (Lower Division), 1,336 with Third Class Honours, and 28 with Pass degrees. The university has also awarded more than 800 postgraduate degrees and qualifications.

“Buildings matter, but the true product of a university is not concrete. It is human capacity. We helped pioneer an entrepreneurial approach to higher education which insisted from the beginning that knowledge should connect with practical competence, enterprise and economic agency,” the Vice-Chancellor stated.

Prof. Fakolujo maintained that the university’s founding academic brief committed it to producing graduates capable of self-employment and self-reliance, directing research towards Nigeria’s social, economic and technological problems, and relating its activities to the social and economic needs of Nigerians.

“A degree should not end with the graduate. Knowledge should travel. It should enter a business, a laboratory, a farm, a classroom, a courtroom, a hospital, a government office, a family, a community, or even a church. That is when education becomes useful,” he said.

The Vice-Chancellor further revealed that medical laboratory science students of the institution recorded 100 per cent success in their 2026 professional examinations for the third consecutive year, while nursing science students also recorded the same feat in the 2026 registered midwife professional examination.

“In the Nigerian Law School results, five JABU graduates earned First Class Honours in 2024, three in 2025, and another three in 2026. Our staff and students are exploring to make learning relatable, producing a greatly enhanced learning experience.

“There have been times when resources were tight, times when systems needed reform, and times when plans moved more slowly than expected. What matters is what we did in those periods. JABU has continued to learn, reform and move forward. Difficulty did not become our final destination.

“Behind those numbers are homes and families. Every graduand has a story. Some parents have paid fees little by little. Some students have combined lectures with personal struggles that many of us will never see. When we say 1,043 graduands, we are not merely announcing a statistic; we are talking about 1,043 journeys,” he said.