| University of Benin | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Knowledge for Service |
| Established | 1970 |
| Vice-Chancellor | Prof Osayuki Godwin Oshodin |
| Students | 50,000 |
| Location | Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria |
| Website | www.uniben.edu |
The University of Benin - also known as UNIBEN - is one of the country's major universities.
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The university was founded in 1970 by the military government of Samuel Ogbemudia.[1] It teaches in a broad range of subjects, including a medical school. It has a student enrollment of approximately 50,000.
In 1985, Grace Alele-Williams became Nigeria's first female vice-chancellor when she was appointed to head the University of Benin. She served as its vice-chancellor until 1991.
The university of Benin was founded in 1970. It started as an Institute of Technology it also was accorded the status of a full-fledged University by National Universities Commission (NUC) on 1 July 1971. In his Budget Speech in April, 1972, the then Military Governor of Mid-Western State, Col. S.O. Ogbemudia (then also visitor to the university) formally announced the change of the name of the Institute of Technology to the University of Benin.
At the onset, the university was situated at Ekewan Road. In 1972, a project to build a main campus at Ugbowo and Ekosodin commenced with engineer Daniel Uhimwen as the director. Today, the main site is at Ugbowo, but some courses are still offered at the Ekewan campus.
On 1 April 1975, the University, at the request of the State Government, was taken over by the Federal Government and became a Federal University. Today, the University has continued to grow from strength to strength with a number of Faculties, Departments, Institutes and Units.
Following NUC's directives, the university experimented with the Collegiate System in 1991/92 and 1992/93. However, in the light of new developments, the university reverted to the Faculty System in January 1994. Presently, the university essentially operates the Faculty System except for the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Basic Medical Sciences, and Institute of Child Health, which reverted back to the Collegiate System in August 1999, with a Provost as its administrative head. The faculties are Agriculture, Arts, Education, Engineering, Law, Pharmacy, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Management Sciences and the College of Medical Sciences.
The university offers courses at postgraduate, undergraduate, diploma and certificate levels. Student enrollment stands at over 50,000, full-time and part-time students shared among the faculties.
The university's main library, the John Harris Library, was named after the pioneer university librarian, Prof. John Harris, from New Zealand. The library began with the inception of the university in 1970 at the Ekehuan Road Campus. John Harris Library is an ultra-modern building with central air conditioning. The building is designed to seat about 700 readers. It provides photocopying, duplicating, laminating and binding services. The library has been computerized. Installation of other modern information technology facilities is ongoing.
With the high increase in student population, the library has embarked on an expansion programme with the establishment of faculty libraries; the Ekehuan Road Campus Library, Medical Library, Law, Engineering and Pharmacy Library are functional. A John Harris Library extension is awaiting commissioning. The library participates in interlibrary co-operation among Nigerian academic libraries.