DELSU VC Attends First PGSAN Congress, Says No ‘Serious’ PG Student Should Stay Longer Than 18 Months

By Daniel Dafe

Vice Chancellor, Delta State University, Professor Andy Ogochukwu Egwunyenga, recently attended the first congress of the Post Graduate Students Association of Nigeria, PGSAN, DELSU branch.

While speaking during the Congress that held at the Faculty of Management Sciences Boardroom, Professor Egwunyenga represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, Professor Ochuko Anomohanran, congratulated the organisers for putting the congress together.

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Continuing, he opined that “the post graduate program is the live wire of every institution.”

According to him, “Delta State University is currently a force to be reckoned with in the comity of universities.”

He said further: “We interact with a lot of bodies and individuals. We just returned from the Policy Meeting of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board and Delta State University was mentioned twice for good reasons,” adding: “That is because we tread in paths that others are now beginning to emulate.”

He continued: “Also just very recently, a university of the United States of America sent delegates to us to say we want to collaborate with you; we are receiving students from Delta State University and they have being doing very well and as a result we want a process where we can verify whatever paper we present in such a way that there will be a smooth admission process and they will be stable. We have initiated that process and we have been having that communication. We have also set up a collaborative program with some other departments like Physics and Computer science. So, Delta State University is doing very well.”

In his words, “when we sit at universities in Nigeria, we speak with our shoulders high because Delta State University is making it.”

Meanwhile, he said the university “could not have attained this height without the postgraduate program.”

“The postgraduate program is the research arm of the university and so if the university is going to be rated high, the post graduate program must be strong,” he said.

Speaking further, he recalled that as Head of Physics Department in 2018,  they instituted a deadline and in eighteen months they were able to graduate those who were ready, noting that the university has been pursuing that ever since.

“If you are serious as a post graduate student, within twelve to fourteen months you should be sure that you are graduating. If a student does not turn up, he or she knows that it was because of unseriousness. But for a student who devotes his or time to study, we don’t have to keep you here a day longer than necessary. This is the reason why SERVICOM is very important. If you see something, say something,” he said.

Furthermore, he stressed that Delta State University has become a brand name, just as he said that in the state with many universities, DELSU is opportune to show leadership in every area.

He urged students that graduate to find ways to support the institution.

He said: “Some of you will graduate from here and you will be in a position to be of assistance to Delta State University. The onus is on you to say let me add value to where I received this knowledge from because I have to pay back. In the United States, you find out that much funds for running universities come from the Alumni Association.”

Egwunyenga said that his administration has faith in the capacity of the present leadership of the post graduate school to drive the process of the administration.

“Our Post graduate school has been running very well, I must say. We have graduated lots of students,” he said while urging students to drop the popular quote that ‘school is scam.’

“School is not a scam. At the time when a need arises, you will find out that it is not a scam. When your colleagues are in position and they want somebody and you say you don’t have that certificate, that time you will know that school is not a scam,” he said.

Earlier, Dean of the Post Graduate School, Professor Sunny Awhefeada, said every postgraduate student occupies a special place in the configuration of DELSU.