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Delta State University, Abraka has recorded a significant breakthrough when all the 40 Programmes presented to National Universities Commission (NUC) in the November/December 2022 accreditation exercise secured full accreditation.

Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Andy Egwunyenga made this known Wednesday, April 26, 2023, while addressing a press conference as part of programmes to mark the university’s 15^th convocation ceremony.

Held in the university’s conference hall, the Vice chancellor, while pointing out that accreditation of 40 programmes presented by the university to NUC happens to be the first time since the 31 years of existence of the Delta State University, Abraka, that full accreditation would be returned for forty (40) Programmes in one fell swoop said: “Now, all eighty (80) Programmes in the University have full NUC accreditation status. No interim accreditation, no denial for any Programme. This again is unprecedented in the history of the University and has only been made possible by the unwavering determination of the University Administration and the entire staff to advance and reposition Delta State University, Abraka, for national and global recognition.”

Prof. Egunyenga also announced that most recently, approval was sought and obtained from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to raise the university’s admission quota for the Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Programme from 75 to 120. “This was targeted at reducing the admission pressure that qualified students from Delta and neighbouring States go through in getting admitted to study Medicine and Surgery at Delta State University, Abraka,” he said.

Besides, he also noted that his administration met the admission quota for the MBBS Programme at 50 upon assumption of duty in December, 2019.

Even as he stated that the first increase was from 50 to 75, Egunyenga said that obtaining approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the commencement of some new Degree Awarding Programmes, namely: Entrepreneurship Studies, Office & Information Management, Biotechnology, Public Administration and Medical Laboratory Science. “Currently awaiting the report of NUC’s Resource Verification Exercise for the commencement of the Agriculture Business Management Programme and the Doctor of Pharmacy Programme, the University hitherto only ran the Bachelor of Pharmacy Programme,” he said, adding that Delta State University is pleased to announce to the Nigeria Scientific Community and the general public the approval of Benneth’s Joint Canadian- Israel Research Program to be conducted in Delta State University. The research team is led by Dr. Ben-Azu, Head of the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences. His research interest spans the study of Neuropsychiatry (neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders) and Neuropharmacology; brain diseases including schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and stress-related neuropathological conditions.

As part of efforts to further meet the institution’s research goal to help make the university the epicentre of multidisciplinary research to provide solutions to the problems of society, DELSU is the development of aquafeed for sustainable aquaculture. The Vice Chancellor said: “DELSU decided to use innovative and transformative Aquaculture to bridge the huge gap between fish demand and domestic production as well as non-readily availability of tilapia feed by signing two MoUs with the National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU), Keelung and also with the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) to actuate a tripartite partnership between DELSU, NTOU and NIOMR.

Prof. Egunyenga, who themed his press conference speech as “Another bountiful harvest,” said in the latest global ranking of Universities by Alper-Doger Scientific Index, Delta State University was ranked as the 27th best University in Nigeria among the over 200 Universities in the country and the 4th best among State owned Universities. Further analysis of the ranking showed the University to be the best State University in the South-South and South Eastern part of Nigeria.

“Furthermore, another highly recognized global Universities ranking body, Webometrics, in their own latest ranking, placed the University as 194th out of 2087 Universities in Africa and 24th out of over 200 universities in Nigeria, based on verified Google Scholar Citations. According to the ranking, Delta State University recorded 56,443 citations, beating some highly rated Universities in the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Canada, and some other more advanced countries. This again is consistent with the Alper-Doger Scientific Index ranking that earlier placed the University as the 27th best in the country and 4th best State owned University.” The Vice Chancellor said.

On capacity building and innovation in the university, Prof. Egwunyenga said that in order to ensure compliance with University global best practice and competitiveness over two years ago developed four policy documents to guide conduct of staff, students and other stakeholders. These include: Environment Policy; Security Policy; Plagiarism Policy and Sexual Harassment Policy. ” Two new policy documents have been developed this year. First is the Gender Policy initiated by the Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS). The policy was the outcome of a summit on Women in Leadership and development hosted by CGDS, in October, 2021,” he said.

According to him, the Policy aims at creating clear framework to drive the development of practice and procedures that will ensure equal rights and opportunities for men and women in all areas and structures of the University including students and staff.

It will promote and ensure gender equity, establish structures, programmes and mechanisms to empower men and women, and transform gender relations within the University. “Delta State University is committed to eliminate barriers to women development and shall declare its position boldly on gender issues within its community, nationally and internally,” Egwunyenga said.

He also pointed out that this year, Senate also approved the Copyright Policy, which is consistent with the Nigerian Copyright Act,2022 to protect writer’s rights to secure fair compensation and acknowledgement for their creative labours while also establishing restrictions and exceptions to facilitate public access to works of arts. The Delta State University Copyright Policy deals with the issue of Ownership, Publication and External Use and Payment for an academic’s Intellectual Property.

Prof. Egwunyenga expressed gratitude of the University to the Visitor and Governor, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, for his unwavering support in funding the University and the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Professor Sam Oyovbaire, for his inspiring leadership and for creating an enabling environment for the University Administration to discharge its responsibilities in line with the University statue, while also acknowledging the contributions of other distinguished members of Council.