The Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, Prof. Olugbenga Ige, has disclosed that 32 of its 5,799 students, who will be graduating during the institution’s 14th convocation ceremony, will be offered automatic employment.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, who described the initiative as a policy and tradition of the university, the move will further assist the institution in mitigating the brain drain syndrome in the academic sector.

Ige, while disclosing this during the press briefing to herald the activities lined up for the convocation, stressed that the outstanding graduates, who are interested in lecturing at the university, will be immediately employed upon the completion of the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

With the Vice-Chancellor urging the government and stakeholders to step up efforts to combat the issue of japa syndrome, he lamented over what he described as inadequate funding of the institution.

He said, “We have a policy on campus that first-class students are appointed as graduate fellows or graduate assistants. We normally give them employment if they are interested in coming back after their NYSC.

“Japa syndrome within the academic sector is not limited to AAUA alone; it is all over Nigerian universities. It is happening because of the economic situation in the country.

“A Ph.D holder in Nigeria, lecturer 2 or lecturer 1 will receive maximally maybe N250,000 in a month, but if he has an opportunity to go outside this country, he will be receiving nothing less than N5 million.

“Funding is very fundamental to the growth and development of any higher institution. Funding in AAUA is inadequate, and that is why the issue of a strike by ASUU came up. What was coming in as subvention was grossly inadequate to meet the university’s needs

Giving the breakdown of the graduating students, the Vice Chancellor disclosed that 5,251 of the 5,799 are undergraduates, 526 postgraduate students, while 22 will receive diploma certificates.

“32 bagged First Class honours, 1,444 earned Second Class Upper Division, 3,177 obtained Second Class Lower Division, 582 made Third Class, and 16 will graduate with Pass,” the Vice-Chancellor stated.

Meanwhile, Ige, who will be leaving the university in the next few months upon the completion of his five-year tenure as Vice-Chancellor, revealed that his only regret since assuming office in 2021 was his inability to build adequate halls of residence for students on campus.

While reeling out the strides under his watch, the academic landscape has been broadened. Ige stated that the university now runs programmes in cyber security, data science, software engineering, and other digital skills.

“My only regret was that I couldn’t build enough halls of residence for students on campus. My target was to build as many halls of residence for students using the TETFund template, but unfortunately, when I came in, TETFund had stopped intervention in our university,” he said.