Training reforms should prioritise lecturers’ welfare, capability constructing  – EKSU Chancellor

The Chancellor of Ekiti State College (EKSU), Dr. Tunji Olowolafe, has known as for significant instructional reforms that prioritise lecturers, noting that “we have fun graduates, however hardly ever ask who made them potential;the lecturers.”

Talking on the College’s thirtieth Convocation Ceremony in Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Olowolafe warned that “a lecturer who ceases to develop can not really train.” 

He disclosed that by way of the Tunji Olowolafe Basis, 37 EKSU lecturers have since 2024 been sponsored to worldwide conferences as a part of a sustained school growth initiative.

He urged members of the graduating Class of 2026 to look past tutorial certificates and embrace values that maintain lifelong relevance, declaring that “the certificates you might be holding in the present day just isn’t the vacation spot, however the place actual life begins.”

The occasion was attended by the Ekiti State Governor and Customer to the College, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, lawmakers, college officers, conventional rulers, mother and father, and different stakeholders.

 Olowolafe stated EKSU’s over 4 a long time of educational legacy stays a supply of pleasure, noting that it “ought to give each certainly one of us cause to pause and really feel genuinely proud.”

He, nevertheless, reminded graduates that whereas certificates might open doorways, “your values will decide what you do as soon as you might be contained in the room,” stressing that onerous work, humility, and honesty—the “3Hs” he inherited from his grandmother—stay the true basis for an enduring legacy, as “worldly success might provide you with a very good life, however these values gives you one thing enduring.”

Reflecting on his personal journey, Olowolafe recalled leaving medical apply in 1988 regardless of years of coaching on the College of Ilorin, explaining that he “stored seeing issues {that a} stethoscope couldn’t repair,” a call that led to the institution of Deux Mission Restricted and a profession in infrastructure growth, together with chairing the Lekki Concession Firm.

In a serious announcement, he unveiled Mission Digi-Train EKSU, aimed toward attaining full digital proficiency for all 650 tutorial workers, stressing that “a college making ready college students for the digital financial system should itself be fluent within the digital world,” whereas additionally revealing investments in campus-wide connectivity as a result of “a device and not using a community is only a machine.”

Olowolafe additional highlighted efforts to bridge the hole between classroom studying and real-world expertise, together with the EKSU Buying and selling Room and {Financial} Market Programme in partnership with the CFA Institute, a Geoscience Earth Laboratory for sensible coaching, and engineering pupil placements on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway venture, describing these as proof that universities should put together college students “not simply with principle, however with expertise.”

Reinforcing a tradition of excellence, he famous that the Basis had beforehand awarded ₦500,000 every to 200 First Class graduates, with about 83 anticipated to learn this yr and be part of the TOF First Class Graduate Membership, insisting that “this isn’t charity, however an announcement that excellence might be seen, celebrated, and rewarded,” below a broader Steady Studying Ecosystem that retains graduates linked past faculty.

He additionally introduced a partnership with Springpod, making EKSU the primary African college on the platform, thereby giving college students entry to world digital work experiences with corporations akin to Amazon, Barclays, Deloitte, and Rolls-Royce, as a part of efforts to supply graduates who’re “already expert, already uncovered, and already ready.”

Charging the graduates to step into the long run with braveness and integrity, Olowolafe confused that “the world is not going to ask on your grade, however whether or not you might be prepared to unravel issues and stand by your values,” urging them to “carry exhausting work, humility, and honesty,” as a result of in the end, “it’s not your certificates that can outline you, however your character.”