Fast growing University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Umuagwo, Imo State, last Saturday matriculated no fewer than 471 students in a ceremony filled with fanfare. The students were inducted into either the four-year or five-year programmes of the Institution.
The ceremony witnessed a large turnout of parents and guardians who came with relatives to celebrate their wards on a successful admission into the Institution of repute. The occasion marked the 3rd Matriculation Ceremony of the specialized University.
In his address at the annual event, the Ag. Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Christopher Chiedozie Eze, welcomed the freshmen into the specialized Institution which he described as a “student-centred, robust boot camp for nurturing the next generation of informed leaders.”
Prof. Eze thanked the Governor and Visitor to the University, His Excellency, Dist. Senator Hope Uzodimma, for his unquantifiable support in nurturing the University which he thoughtfully founded.
With the motto of the University as: knowledge, innovation and excellence, the Vice-Chancellor made it clear that the University was envisioned to be “world-class, run on a template of unparalleled academic dicta, unblemished moral ethos, and matchless entrepreneurial gusto” aimed at raising students that are godly and competent enough to dominate their chosen fields of endeavour. To this effect, he challenged the freshmen to embody “self-discipline, self-care, decency and studiousness.
While reading the riot act to the freshmen, the Vice-Chancellor categorically stated that UAES has zero-tolerance for any form of misconduct ranging from exam malpractice, cultism, violent extremism, drug addiction, hooliganism, cohabitation and carousing, among others, adding that the University would not fail to suspend or rusticate any student found culpable in the afore-mentioned vices.
High point of the ceremony was the administration of the Matriculation Oath on the freshmen by the Registrar of the University, Prince Edward Njemanze, after which they were formally admitted by the Vice-Chancellor.
At the core of the oath was the students’ pledge to abide by the rules and regulations of the University and to shun all anti-social acts failure of which they would forfeit any “right to remain a student of the University or take a degree of the University.”
The University of Agriculture is cosmopolitan, having students and lecturers from all parts of the country. It currently runs twenty nine programmes cutting across five faculties of Agriculture, Sciences and Computing, Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Arts, Management and Social Sciences.
The ICT-driven Institution has collaborations with the European Union on digital financing for local farmers. It also has linkages with Maejo University Thailand, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture Onne, National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and National Productivity Centre among others.
According to the Vice-Chancellor of the Institution, Prof C. C. Eze, the collaborations are meant to build manpower, increase productivity and catalyze sustainable development.