Bowen University
Bowen University is a private Nigerian university owned and operated by the Nigerian Baptist Convention. Bowen University is located at Iwo in Osun State and is housed in the old 1,300-acre (6 km²) campus of the Baptist College, a teacher-training institution on a beautiful hill just outside the city.
Bowen University opened on November 4, 2002 as a residential institution with fewer than 500 students. It has a current enrollment of about 5,000 students and a target capacity of at least 20,500 students. The idea of a Nigerian Baptist university was conceived in 1938 and endorsed in 1957 by the Nigerian Baptist Convention.
The university is named in honor of Rev. Thomas Jefferson Bowen, the first American Baptist missionary from the Southern Baptist Convention who arrived in Nigeria in 1850 and started work in the southwestern city of Abeokuta.
Bowen University is "conceived as a centre of learning and research of distinction, combining academic excellence with love of humanity, borne out of a God-fearing attitude, in accordance with the Baptist tradition of ethical behavior, social responsibility and democratic ethos".
Philosophy:
The University is conceived as a centre of learning and research of distinction; combining academic excellence with love of humanity, borne out of a God-fearing attitude, in accordance with the Baptist tradition of ethical behaviour, social responsibility and democratic ethos. The guiding philosophy of the University is Excellence and Godliness.
The Motto:
The motto of the University is “Excellence and Godliness”. This emphasizes the importance the University attaches to the attainment of excellence imbued with Godliness in all its programmes and training. This motto is the principle underpinning all academic pursuits in the University.
Academics
It is already reputed amongst the universities in Nigeria as one of very high moral and academic standards.
The University has six faculties:
- College of Health Sciences
- Faculty of Agriculture and Extension
- Faculty of Humanities
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Science and Science Education
- Faculty of Social and Management Science
Courses include
- Faculty of Science and Science Education: Industrial Chemistry, Plant Biology, Mathematics and Statistics, Computer Science and Information Technology, Biochemistry.
- Faculty of Agriculture: Crop production, Environmental technology, Agricultural economics, Animal Science, Agricultural Extension.
- Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, the university's largest, includes Human Communications, Banking and Finance, and Economics.
External links
Bowen University is also home to one of the most beautiful university chapels in Nigeria.