The University is one of the nine new Federal Universities that were set up by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR on the 26th of February 2011 in order to expand access to quality education to all parts of Nigeria and to produce knowledge that will support the nation’s economy and its industries. Here at FUNAI our focus is on Excellence and Integrity.
Academic activities in the University commenced fully in the first week of November, 2012 with 10 departments/ academic areas and 25 undergraduate programmes. These programmes are being run in the Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Technology as well as Basic Medical Sciences. The forthcoming faculties and Centres are: (1) Medicine and Surgery, (2) Engineering (3) Entrepreneurship and Employability Centre (EEC). We aim to combine academic excellence with an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to research, supporting a culture that engages and challenges students and staff in their quest for learning.
Our model of university education is based on a spirit of enquiry and the active co-production of knowledge among staff and students in learning, teaching and research. The University prides itself on offering excellent learning experience for students, informed by up-to-date research and facilitated by a high-quality learning environment, with multi-media classrooms, modern library and well equipped laboratories.
Our students learn among and with world-class academics that are leaders in their fields and disciplines. A significant number of our academic staff has terminal degrees from the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Belgium, South Africa and other African countries. Our scholars are engaged everyday in pioneering interdisciplinary research that offer great promise for scientific advancement and new understanding and solutions to the social and political problems that confront Nigeria in particular and the world in general. We are committed to continually recruiting scholars that are proven world-class experts with international research standing.
We have had several seminars and workshops in the University in the past academic sessions including that for: Building a World Class University, Challenges and Innovation in Higher Education Management in Nigeria, Grid Computing, Proposal Writing and Developing an International Research Profile. These academic activities are continuing with more vigour in the current session. The University leadership is particularly committed to creating opportunities for all staff employed by the University to develop their capacities, work to their full potential and satisfy mutual expectations of innovation, productivity, career development, professional excellence and international recognition. Our focus is to produce requisite human resource that will have impactful skills on the society so that our graduates shall be fully employable and employers. Thus, many of our programmes are developed in partnership with employers, creating graduates who, by the time they finish their studies here, have the skills sets required by employers.
We are constantly implementing new technologies and programmes that reflect the educational needs of 21st century and beyond. We are developing iconic infrastructure based strictly on our physical Masterplan, on both the take-off and the adjourning main campus that will befit the vision of our university. We are also investing in a five-year (2013-18) campus development project to provide new teaching space, more student accommodation, staff offices, sports facilities and state-of-the-art Entrepreneurship and ICT building. This will further enhance our ability to deliver an outstanding student experience, world-class research facilities and an inspiring working environment.
We are already developing a profile as one of the best Universities in Nigeria. We have been consistently ranked in the top three among the new Federal Universities in Nigeria. We were ranked by Webometrics and National Universities Commission (NUC) in January 2013 as the first among the nine new Federal Universities established in 2011 in Nigeria. The August 2013 Webometrics ranking placed us in the category of Universities that have advanced in ranking both nationally and internationally. In addition, our repository (FURA) was ranked by Webometrics as 3rd in Nigeria in July, 2014. However, we are working harder to rise further and be a world class university in Nigeria that is recognised for the delivery of intellectually rigorous, cutting-edge research and excellent teaching and learning.
We have close links to the professions and community, and a strong international focus. Towards this end, we have embarked on partnership programme with a few selected Universities in the United States of America (Rice University, Harvard University and Texas Southern University). We have also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kagoshima University, Japan. Our plan is to use these linkages to establish staff-students interaction and exchanges and thereby encourage our young faculty to undergo postgraduate training and research at our partner universities. The above notwithstanding, some of our Assistant Lecturers and Graduate Assistants are in selected 1st and 2nd generation universities in Nigeria for their doctoral programmes.
We are aware that achieving our vision is a considerable challenge but confident that we are developing a tradition of excellence and integrity and have the drive and the determination to succeed. I hope you enjoy browsing our website and visiting our university. We invite you to partner with us as we move forward.