UNILAG and Institute of Directors, Nigeria, set for collaboration

University of Lagos and the Institute of Directors, Nigeria, are set to enter into a bilateral partnership, which would ensure that the two institutions collaborate on many areas of mutual interest.

The decision was made on Monday, March 21, 2022 at the Ikoyi office of the Institute of Directors, Nigeria (IOD) when the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, FAS, led members of management there on a courtesy visit.

In his address, Professor Ogundipe, FAS, reeled out the giant strides of UNILAG in the areas of ground-breaking research and grant awards; Artificial Intelligence and Robotics; and student entrepreneurship and innovation.  He underscored the internationalisation efforts of the university, both in terms of curriculum development and partnerships. In the pursuit of this, he disclosed that a Memorandum of Understanding is in the works with a consortium of 18 European universities and would soon be concluded.

“A similar partnership in the areas of business and executive education development is what UNILAG seeks with the Institute of Directors. We have the University of Lagos Business School, which we believe offers the platform for your distinguished members to come into the academia and impart practical business knowledge”, the Vice-Chancellor said.

Dr. (Mrs) Ije Jidenma, President and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Institute of Directors, expressed her satisfaction with the initiative taken by the University of Lagos to seek collaboration with the Institute. In particular, she commended the many achievements of the university, which she described as changing the narrative of higher education in Nigeria.

“The many strides of the University of Lagos are worthy of commendation”, she enthused.

“We are particularly excited that UNILAG is developing competencies in many digital-compliant areas and is actively promoting entrepreneurship. These are areas that can easily get the buy-in of many actors in the private sector. The famous Chinese proverb says that the journey of a thousand mile begins with small steps. We have now taken the first step in our partnership. We must keep taking till we arrive at our desired destination’’.

Also present at the meeting were top members of the Institute’s Council, most of who were alumni of the University of Lagos and expressed positive expectations of the budding partnership.