UI graduates 5,629, as 186 receive first class honours

The Senate of the University of Ibadan yesterday approved 5, 629 students in various disciplines as having met the institution’s requirement for graduation, with 186 of them making first class honours.

The 2017 convocation ceremony, which began yesterday for the 2015/2016 graduates at the university’s International Conference Centre, also included the Distance Learning Centre.

Vice Chancellor, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, said for the first time since the University was established 69 years ago, one of the graduates, Ozibo Ozibo Ekele broke the jinx in the department of history by earning a First Class Honours with a Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate of 6.6 out of a maximum of 7.0.

The best graduating student for the 2015/2016 session, Daniel Kenechuku Nkemelu of the department of Computer Science, got 7.0 out of a maximum points of 7.0.

Breaking down the grade levels of the graduating figures, Olayinka said 186 made first class; 1,538 got Second Class Upper division, 3,133 finished with Second Class Lower division, while 434 made third class and 81 got pass as 257 were categorized as unclassified.

He enjoined the graduating students to be good ambassadors of the institution, adding that they should impact their world positively.

While noting that he was aware of the public criticism of the large number of First Class graduates from the university, he insisted that the institution still maintains very stringent and competitive mechanism for undergraduate admission and as such was very proud of all its graduates.

He added that the highlights of the convocation was that the institution produced the pioneering set of Bachelor od Arts (B.A) in Music, comprising 12 students, one of whom also earned a first class honours.

“Due to strike action embarked upon by the unions and student’s demonstration during the 2016/2017 academic session, which caused multiple revisions to the academic calendar, our final year students could not complete their programmes early enough for the convocation.

“As a result, we are having convocation for graduates of only the 2015/2016 academic session. A total of 5,629 candidates will be receiving their first degrees.

“Ibadan is for the best and brightest. This has been attested to consistently by the Times Higher Education World University rankings in which Ibadan is the only university in the country ranked among the topmost 801-1,000 universities in the world,” he added.

Giving a valedictory speech on behalf of other graduates, the overall best graduating student in the faculty of Law, Tolulope Ogunmodede, said hard work and prayers made him to achieve the feat.