DELSU PG School Dean Lauds VC, Says His Mission Is To Make Programme Recognised Worldwide

By Daniel Dafe

Dean, Post Graduate School, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Professor Temi Akporhonor, has praised the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andy Egwunyenga, for giving him the needed support since he assumed office.

Akporhonor, a Professor of Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, a former Dean of Students’ Affairs, Head of Chemistry Department and former Director of Pre-degree programme in DELSU, who spoke to Oasis Magazine recently, described his present position as a call to service.

According to him, he met a situation of very few and declining population of students when he took over, adding that last session (the first session when he came in), the programme had more than a 100% increase.

On other achievements, he said: “Here, when I came in, the rain was something else. We could not sit down in this office; not in this office alone but in the whole of the post graduate school and the first thing we did… like I said, when I make a request to the VC, he answers. We had to tell him what I met on ground and we had to reroof this particular building and of course you can see how beautiful it is. We had to renovate the whole building and upgraded the furniture. If you check the environment it is quite friendly.”

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Continuing on his success story so far, he said: “We’re having more PG programs from the various departments. They are encouraged because they see that the person they placed here is doing the work and is doing it properly on their behalf. So we are mounting more programmes. We have PGD and Masters programmes. This year, we have added Masters in Philosophy. For those students who cannot go from Masters to PhD because of their grades, we created an intermediate for them. I think those are some achievements one has recorded.”

Furthermore, he said that hr has introduced zoom to the system.

His words: ‘We have been using zoom for external examination. We have had some cases where the examiner is outside and the students are here or the examiners are here and the students are outside and I think this zoom thing we are the first, if not the only University in Nigeria.”

He urged students looking for where to do their PG studies to embrace DELSU, saying that the program is 18 months and that they stick to this duration.

“Not 18 months then you come here and stay 3 years. Before now, you find students at the next session they’re still doing first semester exam. But now, we finish first semester exam and second semester exam as at when due. So they’re doing their little 6months project now. Within that 6months, we expect them to be ready to graduate. And one thing we put in place that we’re executing is assessment. At the end of the session, we ask the department what is the status of the student, progressing well? Delaying? If the student is delaying, what is the reason for the delay? If it’s that of the student, we tell you to buckle up. But if it’s that of a staff, we advice in the first instance and the staff should be responsible for that,” he said.

On what his mission is, he said it is for the programme to be recognized worldwide.

Adding: “Because before you have your PhD, you’re supposed to publish and before you can publish it means that the quality of work you have done is up to standard and what we do here now is that in the university generally, we have standard measuring bodies. We have a quality that can be accessed and published by those kinds of groups.”

What Is To Come
“I’ve already proposed for a Post Graduate ICT complex where you have the library for students and canteen downstairs where they eat and for relaxation and another floor where there are rooms for seminars and so on. The proposal has been given to the VC but we know that their finances are not excess to play around with. So, we have to start taking the projects one at a time. It is not a top priority because we have so many things to do in the university and this one is lesser. I know that even if I’ve left and he is still on seat one can still be talking to him about the complex. The plan is to link it to this building, so if you are there and you want to come to this building there is an access behind there that you can use, if we are here and we say we have a meeting somewhere or I want to see the students, I don’t need to go round.”