FUNAI TO ESTABLISH OFFICE ON INTERNATIONALIZATION
- As VC appoints Prof. Chinyere Nnorom, Pioneer Director, Centre for Human Resource Development
The Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State is to establish a directorate to be in charge of internationalization.
This was hinted by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba during the 16th Management Meeting of the University held on Monday, 20th March, 2017.
The Directorate which is to come on stream in 3 months’ time will build, extend and sustain contacts, exchanges, alliances and collaborations between the University and international varsities and other organizations in order to attain global visibility.
Speaking on the imperativeness of internationalization for the University, the Vice Chancellor noted that for a University to be globally recognized, it needs to explore avenues for collaboration and alliances with reputable international organizations.
“We have to do things differently, think out-of-the-box and add originality and creativity in the way we do things here”, he stated.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba during the 16th Management Meeting of the University held on Monday, 20th March, 2017.
The Vice Chancellor further bemoaned the conformity and uniformity mind-set of most Nigerian Universities as regards National Universities Commission academic benchmark and curriculum, adding that “if we cannot establish South-North relations, we should explore the option of South-South relations.”
Speaking to the University Management on the topic “International Collaborations and the University System in the 21st Century: A Cross-cultural Perspective”, Prof. Ajuruchukwu Obi of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South African, noted that in the 21st century no single University can be globally recognized without meaningful collaborations.
“It is hard for a single institution to be globally recognized without teaming up with other institutions to explore synergy and alliances in different areas”, he said.
In view of this, the University agreed to collaborate with the Institute of Development Assistance Management (IDAM), University of Port Hare, Alice, South Africa to establish a centre to be in charge of staff and student exchange programmes, research, training of individuals and corporate bodies in development assistance among others. It is to be known as the “Centre for Development Assistance Management, Research and Training (CDAMRT).
Meanwhile, the University has also established a Centre for Human Resource Development. This was also part of the decisions arrived at during the Management Meeting of yesterday. The Centre is to train and retrain staff of the University to perform optimally in the discharge of their responsibilities. Thus, all staff training matters is to be henceforth handled by the Centre.
The Centre became imperative due to many complaints arising from inefficiency and ineffectiveness as well as bad work-related attitudes being displayed by some staff of the University.
Consequently, the Vice Chancellor has appointed Prof Chinyere Nnorom as the pioneer Director of the Centre.
Prof Chinyere Nnorom , Director of the Centre
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