University of Ibadan

University of Ibadan
Established	1948
Type	Public
Vice-Chancellor	Prof. Olufemi Adebisi Bamiro
Location	Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria

The University of Ibadan is the oldest Nigerian university, and is located five miles (8 kilometres) from the centre of the major city of Ibadan in Western Nigeria. It has over 12,000 students.

The University was founded on its own site on 17 November 1948. The site of the University was leased to the colonial authorities by Ibadan native chiefs for 999 years. The first students began courses in January of that year. Arthur Creech Jones, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, inaugurated the new educational institution. The University was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London, then it was called the University College, Ibadan. Some of the original buildings were designed by the English modernist architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew. A 500-bed teaching hospital was added in 1957. The University of Ibadan became an independent university in 1962.

In late 1963, on the University playing fields, with the celebration marked by talking drums, the Rt. Hon. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, first Prime Minister of independent Nigeria, became the first Chancellor of its independent University. The first Nigerian vice chancellor of the university was professor Kenneth Dike, after whom University of Ibadan's library is named.

Besides the College of Medicine, there are now ten other faculties: Arts, Science, Agriculture and Forestry, Social Sciences, Education, Veterinary Medicine, Technology, Law, Public Health and Dentistry.

The University has residential and sports facilities for staff and students on Campus, as well as separate botanical and zoological gardens.

University of Ibadan boasts among its former students several eminent scholars, including Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart; Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature; Odia Ofeimun (a popular Nigerian poet); Jacob Ade Ajayi (one of Africa's foremost historians); Paul Iyogun (Distinguished Operations Management Professor), Abiola Irele and the writer Kole Omotosho. Its faculty also includes the renowned Nigerian poet and folksinger Niyi Osundare, who is Professor of English there. It remains a major pioneer in the development of research south of the Sahara.

Administration

The underlisted are some of the principal members of the University administration:

Faculties

• Agriculture and Forestry
• Arts
• Basic Medical Sciences
• Clinical Sciences
• Dentistry
• Education
• Law
• Pharmacy
• Public Health
• Science
• The Social Sciences
• Technology
• Veterinary Medicine

Units

• The Registry
• The Bursary
• Careers Placement and Counselling Unit
• Foreign Students Unit
• The Sports Council
• The Library
• The Computing Centre
• The Press
• The Bookshop
• The Botanical Garden
• The Zoological Garden
• University Media Centre, which houses the campus radio station, DIAMOND 101.1 FM.
• The Abadina Media Resource Centre
• Advancement Centre
• The University Health Services
• Works and Maintenace
• Academic Planning
• Internal Audit

Halls of residence

The University is primarily residential with Halls of residence for both male & Female students. There is also provision for accommodation of post-graduate students, the halls are listed below:

• Tedder Hall ---- (Male, Undergraduate)
• Queen Elizabeth II Hall ---- (Female, Undergraduate)
• Mellanby Hall ---- (Male, Undergraduate)
• Sultan Bello Hall ---- (Male, Undergraduate)
• Kuti hall ----- (Male, Undergraduate)
• Queen Idia Hall ----- (Female, Undergraduate)
• Obafemi Awolowo Hall ----- (Mixed, Undergraduate & Postgraduate)
• Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall ----- (Male, Undergraduate)
• Independence Hall ----- (Male, Undergraduate)
• Tafawa Balewa Hall ----- (Mixed, Postgraduate)
• Alexander Brown Hall ----- (Mixed, clinical medical, dental & physiotherapy students)
• New Hall ----- (Mixed, Postgraduate)

Notable alumni

Amongst the alumni of the University of Ibadan and other institutions are:

• Chinua Achebe
• John Pepper Clark
• William F. Kumuyi
• Christopher Okigbo
• Gamaliel Onosode
• Wole Soyinka
• Martin I Uhomoibhi
• Ken Saro Wiwa

Notable former staff

Professor Robert Sidney Smith

External links

• Official webpage