Correspondent TUNDE OYEKOLA writes on how the University of Ilorin is aiming to elevate Nigerian universities’ global rankings with a new initiative tagged U-INSPIRE AWARD A former Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Universities Commission, Professor Peter Okebukola, says there is little to rejoice about, that only one Nigerian university is among the 1,000 top-ranking universities in the world. According to Okebukola, it is even more worrisome that the country’s highest ranked university, Covenant University, is a privately owned institution, leaving public universities on its trail. Okebukola stated this at the University of Ilorin, where the Innovative Skills and Pioneering Entrepreneurship Award (U-INSPIRE AWARD) programme is held.
The U-INSPIRE AWARD programme, according to the management of the University of Ilorin, will prepare students for internships, job volunteering, and hands-on skills for them to be relevant in today’s competitive world. The ultimate target of the U-ASPIRE AWARD is to improve the future global rankings of Nigerian universities and their products, The U-INSPIRE AWARD programme will also prepare students for internships, job volunteering, and hands-on -skills that would position the undergraduates ahead of today’s competitive world, the federal tertiary institution added. Speaking, Okebukola stressed that there was a need to improve the future global ranking of universities and the quality of their products alike.
He said, “The global ran.
