The follow-up accreditation exercise by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to the Department of Chemical Engineering Federal University Otuoke in furtherance of its initial steps in 2021 aimed at strengthening the manpower capacity, academic input and output, and infrastructural development of the Department was a huge success. The Team Leader, Professor Chime Thompson while presenting the panel’s exit report on November 21, 2023 at the Office of the Vice Chancellor, FUO.
Professor Chime Thompson from the Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT), harped on the strength of the manpower in the Department and good physical equipment as some of the positives of the accreditation team’s visit.
“The Department has the requisite manpower strength and good physical equipment, which is commendable,” he said, adding, “The classrooms are quite spacious and good, but the NUC standard requires the provision of projectors in all classes to enhance learning.”
In the domain of books, the team was full of praise to the Department for stocking adequate books in the programme despite the need for more volumes in each of the courses for the students.
Professor Chime Thompson, however, noted that the process control system in the Department should be made functional in spite of its availability. In addition, he requested for one or two control systems to be made available in order to give students value for learning.
The team’s other concerns were the temporary Internet connectivity problem they experienced during the inspection of the University Library database and the lack of adequate space in the laboratory, which may be a safety issue in terms of congestion when students undergo practical tests, and the need for quality water supply to the laboratory.
“The Vice Chancellor is doing his best from our interactions to put the University on the radar and we urge you to continue in that direction,” Professor Thompson said.
The Vice Chancellor Professor Teddy Charles Adias, expressed his gratitude to the team for their candid assessment of the prevalent situation in the Department of Chemical Engineering, stating that Federal University Otuoke is still a work in progress as a new University and Management is committed to improving on perceived grey areas.
Professor Adias used the opportunity to apologize for the connectivity problem during the team’s inspection of the Library and surmised that when it comes to one of the greatest strengths of the University, “it is our databases because we have enough in our repositories.” Adding that, “With further subscription, we have far over 34,000 repositories,” Professor Adias said. “We’ve been able to finish the cyber optic bank by the University. We had the privilege of being offered this free Internet facility by the National Communication Commission (NCC) and we’re celebrating that before the end of November 2023 we would have finished the routing and distribution. In fact, it also came with about 100KVA solar panel units. So, we’ve already mounted these for distribution.”
The NUC Accreditation team to the Department of Chemical Engineering FUO included Professor Olusegun A. Ajayi and the NUC representative, Ahmed Salisu Sanusi.
Publications Unit, FUO.