By Lucky Uto

 

Delta State University, DELSU, Abraka, on Saturday graduated a total of 6401 students from different disciplines in the institution with 154 of them emerging with Doctor of Philosophy.

Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Samuel Asagba, who disclosed this, gave the breakdown of graduands as 4706 for First Degree Programme, 505 for Diploma Programme, 360 for Affiliation Programme and 830 for Postgraduate School.

The graduands also comprised 416 Masters degree awardees as well as 22 Masters of Philosophy and 238 who received Postgraduate Diplomas.

In the first degrees category, 101 graduands emerged with First Class, 1526 bagged Second Class Honours (Upper Division), 2556 recorded Second Class (Lower Division) just as 387 graduands came out with Third Class Honours. Also, 56 graduands came up with Unclassified (MBBS) and 77 others with Unclassified (B.Pharm).

Welcoming guests, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Samuel Asagba, pointed out that inadequate funding and workforce shortages remain key challenges for the university.

The Vice Chancellor also shared some notable achievements, including the construction of a road linking the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences and Faculty of Arts, the ongoing construction of the Faculty of Agriculture building (previously based at the Asaba campus), a 500-capacity lecture theatre at the Faculty of Arts Site III, and a block of five classrooms with offices.

He reaffirmed DELSU’s commitment to delivering education that meets international standards, citing the university’s improved rankings and the swift accreditation of its programs by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

He said the university had attained 100 per cent accreditation of all its programmes, adding that it was recently ranked 20th position among over 300 Nigerian universities and 3rd position among state-owned universities in the country by the global SciVal Ranking tool of Elsevier.

The Vice-Chancellor commended Governor Oborevwori, for his commitment to the growth and development of the citadel of higher academic learning.

Earlier, the Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council of DELSU, General Alexander Ogomudia, thanked Governor Sheriff Oborevwwori for the assistance he has rendered to the school and called on donor agencies and philanthropic individuals to contribute to the infrastructural growth of the university.

While calling on the state government to fast track completion of all ongoing and abandoned projects in the school, he equally reminded graduands of the need to be good ambassadors of the institution in their various endeavours.

Meanwhile, Governor Oborevwori has pledged to increase government support for DELSU) especially in the areas of infrastructure and development, just as he reassured the academic community of the government’s commitment to bridging existing gaps.

Governor Oborevwori emphasized the importance of partnerships, urging stakeholders to collaborate with the state government to meet the university’s growing needs.