Alternative funding key to varsities’ relevance, says Okonofua

Vice Chancellor, University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo State, Prof. Friday Okonofua, has tasked universities in the country to devise genuine ways of raising funds in order to remain afloat and capable of competing in an era where paucity of funds is the order of the day.

Speaking at a press conference, where he revealed that the school has advanced tremendously in its pursuit of excellence in medical education Okonofua said the school was on the verge of launching its Friends of UNIMED Fund on July 7, 2016, where it intends to raise funds to grow the varsity.

“As you know, most universities in this country have the challenge of inadequate funding, and so, it is imperative that institutions that intend to attain global excellence must seek alternative methods of funding.  The University of Medical Sciences has up to 10 different fund raising strategies, one of which is the Friends of UNIMED Fund,” the vice chancellor informed.

The school was established with a commitment to achieve high excellence in medical education, service delivery and research, with a vision to adopt world-class teaching, research and service delivery models, so as to attain the status of a veritable medical tourism destination for West Africans seeking sophisticated medical care within a short period of time.

He said, “At its meeting of February 18, 2016, the Governing Council of the university under the able chairmanship of Prof. O.O. Akinkugbe, decided to establish a “Friends of UNIMED FUND (FUF)” for the purpose of obtaining the resources to grow the university to attain its mission and vision statements.

The objectives of the UNIMED FUF are two-fold: to build a multitude of friends for the university who will see themselves as joint owners, and therefore be willing to make regular contributions towards the development of the University; and to manage the fund in a transparent, effective and accountable manner for specific identifiable projects on research, service delivery and development of the university.

“The idea is to generate a cohort of friends for the university who will make regular, small and determined financial contributions towards the implementation of specific projects in the University.  It is not the size of individual contributions that will matter, but rather the number and consistency of the contributors.  The goal of the University is to attract one million faithful friends who make annual donations of at least N1, 000 each.  This will amount to about N1b each year, enough to embark on major developmental projects each year for the university.

Okonofua informed that the school has “advanced tremendously in its pursuit of excellence in medical education, research and service delivery in this country.  Our students are currently in the second semester of the 2015/2016 academic session having completed the first semester examinations. Indeed, one of the students scored a GPA of 5/5 obtaining A’s in all his courses and have been awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s prize for best student in the foundation examination conducted by the university.