The University of Ibadan (UI), has announced that 14 proposals submitted from the institution are to be funded by TETFUND in the 2021 National Research Fund to the tune of N342 million.
In a statement signed by the institution’s spokesperson, Adejoke O. Akinpelu, the nation’s Premier University stated, “Fourteen proposals submitted from UI are to be funded by TETFUND in the 2021 National Research Fund to the tune of Three Hundred and Forty-two Million, One Hundred and Seventy-one Thousand, Seven Hundred and Twenty-two naira only.”
According to the statement, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships (RISP), Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose, (SAN), revealed this while distributing letters of award to the TETFUND National Research Fund Grantees.
Bamgbose, who commended TETFUND for filling the research gap in Nigeria noted that worldwide, not every university lecturer is a researcher as many lecturers only focus on the teaching track while only a few combine teaching with the research track.
According to her, this is an anomaly as both should go hand in hand, pointing out that a small proportion of academic staff engages in research due to a lack of access to local research funding.
She stated that UI Management is doing all possible to make the University a research-intensive institution.
Urging faculties and departments to have an active research committee to promote research culture among members of staff, she appealed to senior researchers to take mentorship of the younger faculties important by ensuring that they use their grants to support early career researchers so that there would be a generation of researchers to pass the baton to.
Bamgbose assured that under the present administration, UI will continue to maintain her rightful position in the comity of Higher Education institutions globally and sustain her leadership role in Nigeria and the West African sub-region, while contributing to societal development.
She stated that the administration will deploy more resources to Research Administration so that UI will continue to soar higher.
