Delta State University (DELSU) Abraka, is now the 4th best among State-owned Universities in Nigeria according to the latest global ranking of Universities by the Alper-Doger Scientific Index.
According to the latest global ranking, Delta State University is ranked as the 27th best University in Nigeria among the over 200 Universities in the country.
Vice-Chancellor of DELSU, Professor Andy Egwunyenga disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing a Press Conference as part of events leading to the 15th convocation ceremony of the University.
The convocation ceremony which is scheduled to hold on Saturday, 29, 2023, at Campus 3 Abraka will begin at 9am with the commissioning of projects, award of diplomas, first degree and higher degrees as well as award of prizes.
Professor Egwunyenga said, “Further analysis of the ranking showed the University to be the best State University in the South-South and South-Eastern parts of Nigeria. Furthermore, another highly recognized global University ranking body, Webometrics, in their own latest ranking, placed the University as 194th out of 2087 Universities in Africa and 24th out of over 200 universities in Nigeria, based on verified Google Scholar Citations.
“According to the ranking, Delta State University recorded 56,443 citations, beating some highly rated Universities in the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Canada, and some other more advanced countries. This again is consistent with the Alper-Doger Scientific Index ranking that earlier placed the University as the 27th best in the country and 4th best State-owned University.
“Given the stringent conditions for participating in the global Times Higher Education (THE) ranking of Universities, Delta State University, Abraka got qualified and invited for the first time in January 2023 to submit an entry for the latest and ongoing prestigious THE Ranking. Entry has now been submitted by the University, and the result of the ranking is being awaited. This is indeed a product of the deliberate and strategic leadership acumen of the current administration at repositioning the University into becoming a globally recognized citadel of research, teaching and learning.”
Professor Egwunyenga stated further that given the pace at the University is going in the areas of building capacity through the development of infrastructure for teaching, research, and quality assurance, he is hopeful that in another two to three years DELSU will rank number one among State-owned Universities in Nigeria.
In the area of strengthening academic programmes, he said, DELSU has been able to secure full accreditation for all the forty (40) Programmes presented to National Universities Commission (NUC) in the November/December 2022 Accreditation exercise.
According to him, “This happens to be the first time since the 31 years of existence of the Delta State University, Abraka, that full accreditation would be returned for forty (40) Programmes in one fell swoop. Now, all eighty (80) Programmes in the University have full NUC accreditation status. No interim accreditation, no denial for any Programme. This again is unprecedented in the history of the University and has only been made possible by the unwavering determination of the University Administration and the entire staff to advance and reposition Delta State University, Abraka, for national and global recognition.
“Most recently, approval was sought and obtained from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to raise the University’s Admission Quota for the Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Programme from 75 to 120. This was targeted at reducing the admission pressure that qualified students from Delta and neighbouring States go through in getting admitted to study Medicine and Surgery at Delta State University, Abraka.
“It is worthy of note that the current administration met the admission quota for the MBBS Programme at 50 upon assumption of duty in December 2019. The first increase was from 50 to 75.
He added that the University has obtained approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the commencement of some new Degree Awarding Programmes, namely: Entrepreneurship Studies, Office & Information Management, Biotechnology, Public Administration and Medical Laboratory Science.
The University he said is currently awaiting “the report of NUC’s Resource Verification Exercise for the commencement of the Agriculture Business Management Programme and the Doctor of Pharmacy Programme. The University hitherto only ran the Bachelor of Pharmacy Programme”.
Continuing, the DELSU Vice-Chancellor revealed that this year the Senate of the University also approved the Copyright Policy.
“The Policy is consistent with the Nigerian Copyright Act, 2022 to protect writers’ rights to secure fair compensation and acknowledgement for their creative labours while also establishing restrictions and exceptions to facilitate public access to works of art.
The Delta State University Copyright Policy deals with the issue of Ownership, Publication and External Use and Payment for an academic’s Intellectual Property,” said Egwunyenga.
Other events that will precede the 15th convocation ceremony of Delta State University, Abraka, are as follow: Thursday, April 27, 2023, investiture of Alumni/Award to outstanding alumni and convocation drama; Friday, April 28, 2023, Convocation Lecture and Rehearsals for the Convocation Day.
The programme of events for the convocation will be concluded on Sunday, April 30, 2023, with Founders’ Day Thanksgiving Service at All Saint’s Anglican Chapel, DELSU, site 3.